Pandemonium
by kingsymie
Summary: What happens when Sakura doesn't forgive Sasuke after the War? Untold feelings, hurt and pain all distilled into a series of chapters... the story of Sasuke's redemption and guilt, Sakura's paraonoia and her team's fear for her life. Slight Sasusaku. Set in Narutoverse. (ONGOING)
1. Chapter 1

**Rating: M**

 **Summary** : What happens when Sakura doesn't forgive Sasuke after the War? Untold feelings, hurt and pain all distilled into a series of chapters... the story of Sasuke's redemption and guilt, Sakura's paraonoia and her team's fear for her life. _Slight Sasusaku. Set in Narutoverse. **(ONGOING)**_

 **Chapter 1**

Sakura descended downhill in a sift swoop as she arced past the boulders unhindered and her sight locked onto the two bodies lying still on the rubble below her. She gently landed onto the rocks and took the view in front of her in. Naruto and Sasuke lay there, still, injured, battered and bruised from their overstretched battle resulting in the loss of an arm in both of them.

Sakura walked towards them, shaking off her disbelief as flashbacks of Sasuke's genjutsu trifled with her conscience. Upon reaching their sight she kneeled in between the two and brought chakra to her palms to stop the bleeding and infection in their now severed arms. "Thank you Sakura", Naruto mumbled with the little energy he had. A few seconds later Sasuke spoke hoarsely, "Never mind me, Sakura". Sakura immediately jolted back to reality and replied, "Keep quiet and let me concentrate".

Sasuke hopelessly eyed her and gently spoke, "Sorry…"

"Sorry? For what?"

"For everything".

Naruto's frown deepened as Sakura did not react. He knew what she was feeling right now, her feelings were boiling up to the surface almost as if she were going to break into a stream of tears upon hearing Sasuke, yet she forced her face to remain calm and winced at the constant plunge of emotions brimming in her skin.

Moments of silence passed by as Kakashi who towered up on the cliff watched the three rise and sit, staring into each other's deadpan eyes searching for the words to speak to one another.

Naruto broke the silence by saying, "Sakura, I kept my promise didn't I?"

Sakura sat still, staring into Naruto's eyes expressionlessly as her face pushed forth a smile that seemed unbelievable to them both. Sasuke's eyes drifted lower as he felt a stinging pain in his chest, an almost unimaginable feeling that shook him out of his mentation and carefully looked at Sakura one last time before she rose up onto her feet and said, "You should release the Tsukuyomi now".

Naruto immediately looked at Sasuke's now composed expression and made the Rat hand sign with him.

Immediately a loud crash of branches could be heard as thousands and thousands of branches plucked out of their roots and crashed onto the ground unwinding the cocoons cast on the figures trapped inside them. Figures rose out of their unconscious state and starting to examine their surroundings and the bright light that hit them blinding some causing them to rub their eyes.

Naruto looks towards the sun rise as Sakura stood beside him watching the clouds make way for the light, while Sasuke slowly raised his eyes to look at Sakura one last time before she turned around and climbed up the cliff to where Kakashi was. Naruto soon followed suit and beckoned Sasuke as he too climbed up after him.

Kakashi looked at the sight before him and reveled in the emotions of watching his old Team back in their previous form. Sakura walked towards him and spoke, "We should make a move for the village and check up on everyone don't you think?" Kakashi agreed and immediately headed into the trees leaving the three of them behind. Sakura tucked a few strands of her hair behind her ear and hailed Naruto and Sasuke to follow him. All three of them glided past the trees as they made their way to Konoha.

The village almost shattered from every angle looked miserable in its state as Naruto placed his left arm on his forehead to watch clearly immediately recognizing the Hokage's tower. Sasuke almost couldn't even recognize the same village he once grew up in and Sakura too watched in disbelief. Almost in a matter of time, many shinobi made their way past them and into the blocks of buildings alongside the Hokage's tower as well as inside it. Sakura quickly spotted Shizune aiding a battered Tsunade walking towards the Hokage's tower and quickly ran towards them.

"Tsunade-sama are you alright?"

"I am alright Sakura, don't worry about me just go and aid the injured in the Hospital as much as you can. Go!"

With that, Sakura immediately turned on her heel and made way for the Hospital and disappeared into the thick concrete buildings.

Sasuke watched her closely almost frozen in his step until Naruto yanked him out of his stupor and guided him to move towards the Hokage's tower where Kakashi had gone to.

Many months passed by, Naruto recovered fully and became more confident in yielding his now prosthetic arm made from the cells of Lord Hashirama. While Sasuke's sentence was announced right about after his time of arrival in the village after the War ended. He was sealed and locked up in the dark dungeons of one of the most highly guarded prisons of Konoha located underground and know to only the elite in the ANBU and the Council.

Sakura had taken to working overtime at the hospital to calm her dismay towards his sentence but she had expected no less as she realized his crimes had only piled up beyond belief. There would be times she would try to retreat into her emotional safety by remembering all the good times she shared with Sasuke back when they were a team, but they would all shatter in front of the person he had become causing her to bounce out of her fictitious stream of thoughts of her ever forgiving Sasuke for his crimes and for most importantly hurting her the way he had.

The Council had a overdrawn discourse on Sasuke's sentences upon all the advances made by the now, Sixth Hokage, Kakashi Hatake and the testimony of Naruto Uzumaki who made it their very own mission to let the Council give Sasuke another chance at reclaiming himself. Upon considering their testimonies and realizing Sasuke's role in helping to break the Tsukuyomi, the Council decided to release Sasuke from his confinements and set him free with a warning and criticizing his behavior clearly stating that if he were to turn rogue again the actions would be severe.

On hearing of the news of his release, Sakura felt a pang of fear in her heart. What would Sasuke do now? Would he leave again? Would he try to earn her forgiveness? Or would he rather avoid her and live on his own terms? She clearly could not function without knowing. Yet she actually hoped he would rather keep his distance from her as she feared for own safety. She wasn't sure if this time Naruto would be there to protect her from him. She felt a tumultuous emotion within her and she could hardly focus on work.

Every night, she would double check her locks before sleeping. She would switch off every light and lay down every keenly thought of trap and make sure no one could disturb her slumber. She felt insecurity like no other, memories from Sasuke's disturbing genjutsu of him stabbing her repeatedly would revisit her in her dreams and she would wake up with a terrible scream almost choking the air out of her. She would feel his presence around her sometimes; she felt that he would watch her sleep. She would check her windows repeatedly and pull the covers up to her face and slump into deep sleep knowing no one could hurt her now. Little did the medic know that she was right after all, Sasuke **was** watching her. He watched her every night, whether it was through the windows or right beside her standing over her limp body gazing into her face. He was never too sure why he did this, but he felt the urgent need to be there to protect her or was it guilt?

Days turned into weeks and soon Sasuke decided to leave the village on a journey of redemption. Kakashi walked him to the gates of Konoha making sure he bid him a proper good bye as he wouldn't be seeing his former student for God knows how long. Sasuke felt pain inflicted into his chest when he asked Kakashi why Sakura wasn't there.

"She's busy at the hospital, I did insist but she said she didn't have the time. She wished you good luck on your journey although" he had meekly replied.

Sasuke knew it was just her excuse to never see his face again, he knew he couldn't ever redeem himself unless he gained Sakura's forgiveness yet he felt helpless and lost because he didn't know how he would ever make it up to her. As he walked past the gates holding onto the last shred of hope that she would at least see him off now, he felt a twist in his stomach when he turned around not to see her. Naruto stood beneath a tree waiting for him to come by a few yards away.

"She hates me doesn't she?"

"Sakura will forgive you in her own time, Sasuke".

"Those are just words"

"She has always loved you, don't forget that. You just need to really focus on what you need to do right now and make the best use of your freedom in all the right ways".

He handed him his old headband which has a slash running past the engraving of Konoha's emblem signifying how Naruto really wanted Sasuke to earn his right to the headband like he had all those years ago.

"I hope she does".

And with that, Sasuke trudged down the path disappearing into the sunset as Naruto watched him walk away. He turned around making his way towards the gate while thinking to himself, 'But will she?'

Review, fav and write if you wish that I continue this. Thank you.


	2. Chapter 2

**Review this story, fav or write to me if you wish I continue it.**

 ** _2 years later_**

The double doors push through as a pink haired medic makes her way past followed by 4 chunin level Medics dressed in lab coats. She is wearing a red sleeveless vest reaching her waist with a belt around it and a navy blue pencil skirt that grazes her mid-thigh with small slits along the side to aid her movement. This was her usual attire unless she was sent away on long term missions.

One of the medic's spoke to Sakura, "We had to intubate him with an endotracheal tube to aid his breathing as it was faltering forcing him into V-fib, we pumped oxygen into him and he's stabilized".

"Did you start a central line?" Sakura asked them.

"Yes ma'am"

"Good, get him into CT and get me those results first thing in the morning, got it?" she asked them with firmly.

"Yes ma'am!"

She walked into her office; a large room carpeted wall to wall in a dull shade of maroon, wooden walls obscuring every inch and a glass window overlooking the entire village. Her desk had two piles of paper work on them along with a laptop and a few files next to them. A mug filled with stale coffee now remained there as Sakura pressed a button on her phone, "Sasha, get me some fresh coffee and sweet buns please". "Yes ma'am" came a swift reply from her secretary.

She walked towards her revolving chair and sat down before turning towards a trolley onto her right. It housed a number of vials filled with chemicals and enzymes that Sakura was investigating along with syringes and glass slates filled with samples.

Sakura pulled a swab encased in a zip pouch out of her pocket and placed it onto the trolley before turning towards her laptop and resuming her typing. She swiftly went through her paperwork and scribbled a few things when Sasha came in with a tray in her hand. She walked towards the desk and grabbed the old mug replacing it with the new mug filled with fresh coffee and a plate of sweet buns.

"Is it going to a long night tonight as well, ma'am?" she inquired.

After almost a minute of scribbling on her paperwork, Sakura replied, "Oh no, its alright you can go home now, I'll just finish some details on this report and leave it at your desk so you can file them first thing in the morning, get a good night's sleep now I have been slogging you off the entire week Sasha" exclaimed her boss.

"Thank you so much, ma'am" and with that Sasha turned around and walked out closing the doors.

Sakura went back to scribbling onto her papers and typed a few things here and there in between and suddenly turned over to the trolley on her right, gazing intently on the swab she had previously sampled. Trying very hard to shove her curiosity away she scribbled a little more before gulping her coffee down and downing a few sweet buns. She turned in her revolving chair and stopped at the sight of her window gazing out of it towards the glistening lights twinkling in the expanse of the village. A few minutes passed like that before she rose from her chair and quickly grabbed the zip pouch containing the swab and a couple of empty vials along with her and walked out of her office.

She pushed a door open which said, "DNA testing" and quickly closed it behind her, inside a young man was viewing something under a microscope when the noise of the door opening broke his attention.

"Sakura-sama, how can I help you?"

"Drop the sama already?" she replied sternly, holding the pouch in her hand she handed it to the young man, "Yumire, I want you to test this against any old sample of Sasuke Uchiha and confirm if it is his".

"Sasuke Uchiha you say?" he questioned her with an almost vexed expression.

"Yes, Sasuke Uchiha. Confirm it to me in the morning and here, I want you to extract anything from the sample and reproduce it for me for future use in these" she continued and handed him the vials.

He quickly labeled them and placed it into a digital locker after typing the code.

"Yes ma'am the reports will be on your table in the morning".

She receded towards the door before he spoke again, "Umm, Sakura-san?"

"Yes?"

"I just wanted to tell you you looked beautiful despite working a long shift".

Sakura blushed a little before nodding and walking out.

Just when she was about to open the door to her office, she was taken aback when the door opened on it's own to a baffled Naruto standing in the way.

"Naruto? What are you doing here? Is something wrong?"

"Sakura-chan, why aren't you at home, it's 11 PM and you're working overtime again. This is what, the second week in a row? I haven't seen your face since a week now, what's going on?" he asked with an almost concerned expression.

"Naruto, you're worrying too much again. Come inside, I need to keep you posted on that ANBU that got admitted earlier and his condition".

Their conversation went on about how the ANBU had faced severe lesions and bruises and an almost punctured lung and how his recovery would take weeks of intensive care.

"His CT results will come in tomorrow in the morning and I'll let you know if there is any other damage. God know's what happened on that mission with you lot. I was really worried about you when I saw your team mates flood the hospital in such beaten up condition" she said with her brows furrowed together.

"You know better than to worry about me Sakura-chan,"

"I know but still,"

"Naruto?" she continued.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan?"

"I got around to getting that sample DNA tested against Sasuke's. Are you positive the man described resembled Sasuke?" she asked with despondence.

"Positive it looked like him, although I know it cannot be him, but we still need to follow procedure and make sure we follow all steps" he added.

She turned in her chair and looked outside her window again, "I hope it doesn't match".

 ** _Thanks for the reviews and comments everyone. Next chapter coming up soon, this will circle around the timeline of Sakura's kidnapping by Kido._**


	3. Chapter 3

**Review this story, fav or write to me if you wish I continue it.**

 **A/N: Contains very detailed mature content, reader's discretion advised.**

 **THIS CHAPTER CONTAIN'S CONTENTS FROM SAKURA HIDEN: LOVE RIDING THE SPRING BREEZE and those portions do not belong to me.**

 **Next day**

Sakura rubbed her eyes stepping out of her covers, moving towards her bathroom. She stood a good five minutes in front of her mirror staring at herself before pulling the tank top she had on off. Her breasts slumped into their natural position and perked up as they made contact with the cold wind around them.

Suddenly she felt a pang of arousal that spun her stomach into a knot, quelling for release. Her right hand then travelled onto her torso, below her navel and then inside her panties. A low moan rose as she slipped two fingers inside forcing them in and out. Her other hand grabbed one of her breasts and squeezed it roughly, pinching the nipple between her index and thumb. She kept panting and moaning as her fingers picked up pace and forced themselves deeper inside her. She was almost close to her release when suddenly the doorbell rang breaking her out of her carnal activity causing her to almost let out a oud gasp and falling onto the sink.

"Tsk, who the hell could it be" she said as she washed her juices away under the cold water of the sink and grabbed her tank top on and wore her pajamas that lay on the couch in her bedroom as she paced towards the door.

She opened the door, and saw a bewildered Naruto standing on her door step, the look on his face explaining exactly why he was there at this time of the morning. The only words that escaped his mouth were, "It was a match!"

Double doors open as Sakura paces into the hospital, now dressed in her usual attire along with her lab coat on as she made her way towards the DNA testing lab.

"YUMIRE!"

"Yes Sakura-san?" replied an almost frightened young medic, his pale blue eyes now a deeper shade.

"Who intimated Naruto of the DNA results?" Sakura questioned with much ire.

"Sakura-san he just arrived in this morning demanding that I let him know right away, I had no choice but to give him the report. I am very sorry, Sakura-san" he responded with guilt.

She sighed and walked towards his workstation, leaning on her arm that was placed on the slab. "Did you reproduce that sample I asked you?"

"Yes Sakura-san" he replied and immediately punched digits into the locker and placed two vials into her hand.

She turned on her heel, pacing for the door when he responded, "I am _really sorry_ Sakura-san". Sakura turned around and gave him a smile, "It's alright".

She sat in her office pondering over the most plausible logic to how it would all fit and make sense to her yet no conclusion of hers was rational enough for her to believe that the man believed to have been responsible for a series of killings across the borders of Suna, was actually Sasuke Uchiha.

Here she was believing, Sasuke had made inroads with his journey of redemption and would have probably forgotten all about her and decided to perhaps stay away from the village yet here she was, deciphering why he would go back to his old ways causing much trouble to the village, to her and Naruto. Which is when Naruto dashed through the doors, "Sakura-chan!"

"God Naruto, you almost scared me, what is it?"

"Lord Hokage, He-he wants me to… capture Sasuke and bring him back!"

The words took their time to sink into her conscience and before she knew it she flung the pile of paperwork on her desk and hit the desk with her fist.

"God damn it that Uchiha can't restrain himself from self-destructing ever _can he?!"_

Naruto overlooked as an angered Sakura walked towards him, "Naruto, if you find him. Just take him down once and for all".

Naruto stared at her appalled at her words. He couldn't believe that she had asked him such a thing. The same girl that cried a stream of tears asking him to bring Sasuke back was now asking him to take him down, once and for all. He looked on as a single tear made its way down her cheeks as she wiped it off swiftly making sure her emotions didn't get the best of her.

"Sakura-chan…" he continued as he stared into her eyes. It took him no time to realize she was dead serious about her resolution. With that, he walked away closing the doors behind him as Sakura slumped onto the carpet onto her knees breaking into a mess, tears covering her now drenched cheeks. She heaved a sigh before picking herself up and moving towards her chair. She couldn't believe she was crying so hard, for him.

She had just finished work when she decided to leave early today and made way towards her apartment.

"I told you let go!"

The sudden angry roar stopped her in her tracks. It had come from the street near her house. She peered into the alley, it was already night but the street lamps penetrated into the dark however faintly, so the road ahead her wasn't pitch black.

Several men were pressing another man down onto the ground. The men pressing all wore ANBU masks.

"Look let me go!"

"Quiet! You're suspected of terrorism!"

"I'm telling you, it wasn't me!"

Of the quarreling voices, the one coming from the man on ground was familiar to Sakura.

"Sasuke!?" she cried out.

"Sakura!" The man on the ground lifted his face.

It was indeed Sasuke.

"Tell them. I came back to the village and suddenly they tackled me. They're saying I killed some terrorists or something."

 _Please let him go._ Sakura swallowed the words before they had a chance to leave her mouth. "Wait are you really Sasuke?" she asked, in all seriousness. She'd been thinking and working all this time on the idea of the fake Sasuke. She was bound to become paranoid.

"And now _you're_ asking me stuff like that?" He let out a short sigh. "Did you really forget your old classmate's face? Look at me!" he said briefly, and let the silence speak.

Reflexively, she returned his gaze, and in that moment, her vision blurred and smeared.

 _Genjutsu!_

She couldn't stay on her feet. But the genjutsu wasn't that strong. She quickly quelled the disturbance in her chakra and regained her steady posture. And then she felt the presence behind her. Before she could turn around, she felt a stinging sensation at the back of her neck.

She felt some kind of drug being injected into her veins. The strength left her knees and she collapsed face down on the ground.

She had been kidnapped by Kido.

 **Months passed,** as she heard of how Sasuke had made his way to save her despite her being able to save herself from the clutches of Kido. She felt an indignant repugnancy from the situation altogether. She felt like she owed him now. Even though his name had been cleared of all crimes that he had been accused of, there was a certain grudge she held past all the events. Why did bad things always seem to happen to him and him alone? She remembered the one time when she heard about his valiant effort in stopping the exploding humans and how the perpetrator has something to avenge of the Uchiha clan. It was almost unbelievable; the hate that brewed in her system for the certain Uchiha. She flicked strands of her hair off her face as she concentrated on the paper work in front of her. She was back in the hospital working over time again but this time there was an almost inconceivable change in her.

Her mind would drift more easily; she would get afraid more easily. The mere thought of the Uchiha ever setting foot in the village again made her flinch. She wanted nothing more than to toss her paperwork aside and head home. Yet she sat there in her office boring her eyes into the papers wondering if they would actually calm her paranoia.

A knock on the door broker the silence. "Come in!"

"Uhm, Sakura-san."

She rose her head to see a raven haired, blue eyed, tall and young stature in the door way, "Yes, Yumire?"

"Don't you think it's a little too late? Even my shift is over now and it's almost 1:30 AM, do you wish me to walk you home?" he asked with persistence almost hoping she'd say yes.

She looked at the clock on the wall, he was right; it was too late for her to be getting busy with paper work she could easily ask someone else to handle. She dropped the lab coat off her shoulders and picked her bag up from the couch and walked towards him. She casually maneuvered him to walk alongside as he shut the door behind them.

They were on the streets and walked in complete silence; a silence almost intolerable by the often cheerful youth that walked beside a resenting pink haired woman. Five minutes into their stroll and he moved a little closer to her, their hands brushed here and there. He gathered the courage to ask her, "Sakura-san is something the matter?"

On his enquiry her head rose as she peered into his eyes, staring for far too long for him to feel unhinged. They had come to a halt as they had already reached the stairway to her apartment; her eyes staring intently into his, grasping the reason as to why she felt so utterly ridiculous at that particular moment of time.

Sakura didn't know what came upon her but in a fleeting movement she grasped his collar in her hand and crashed her lips onto his, her bag dropping to her side and her other hand was now placed on the nape of his neck almost forcing him into the kiss. In mere seconds, Yumire complied and placed both his hands on her waist and pulled her closer into the kiss. The kiss started off passionately but was now leading onto something much more as her hands travelled downwards onto his chest and then at the rim of his pants pulling them towards her almost signaling what she needed. Yumire simply let his hands slide upwards softly fondling her breasts through her vest earning a moan causing his arousal to grow. They pulled away and stared for only a moment before she grabbed his hand and led him into her apartment, he grabbed her bag and brought it along peeking a look around to make sure no one saw their moment.

As soon as she got inside, he pushed her onto the back of the door slamming his fist against the wood, fondling her breasts with more fervor earning a louder moan. She pulled at his buttons, unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders. She quickly placed kisses all over his chest forcing a grunt out of his mouth as he sucked on the skin of her neck as she constantly kept making her way down. He let out a low grunt as he pressed his head down to see what she was doing. She kept pressing kisses all over his navel, she placed her fingers at his waist band and tugged at the edge. He moved his hands and unbuttoned his pants causing them to fall to his heel; he stood now in his boxers. He was already erect and she could clearly see it through his boxers how hard he was for her. She quickly pulled her vest off her and unzipped her skirt pulling it off her legs and kneeled between his legs.

He watched her with heavy lust in his eyes as she pushed his boxers down and his erect dick plopped up. She slowly held in her hands and stroked it ever so softly causing him to grumble in pleasure, she kept at it and quickened her pace as she stared into his eyes above her and watched his head fall back. She enjoyed the sight of him enjoying her every move. Her tongue reached for his now throbbing dick and wrapped itself around his head and licked at the pre cum that had spilt. His hands that were laced in her hair now made their way for her breasts and pinched at her nipples holding her gently in his hands as he played with them. Her tongue slid onto the whole length of his dick and kept at it as she tasted his cum, it tasted musky yet pleased her senses. She wrapped her lips around his dick in one go and bobbed her head up and down his dick sucking with much excitement as she tightened her grips on her hands that were at the base of his shaft. Her other hand grabbed his balls and she pressed them gently and watched Yumire battle his louds moans. She was pleased, and continued to suck his dick enjoying the taste of his cum dripping from the sides of her lips as she tightened her lips around his length causing him to let out a loud groan of pleasure. He pressed her breasts much forcefully and earned a moan from her whilst her lips were wrapped around him. She let his dick out of her mouth and grabbed it by her hands and licked the length a good number of times as she made her way down to his balls and grabbed one in her mouth and sucked on it while she stroked his dick hard. He felt like he was about to explode, he was gazing at the beautiful sight in front of his as his hands now trifled with her nipples and pinched the pink nubs carefully earning low moans from his partner.

She went back to sucking his dick this time tightening her grip on it and felt him stiffen up, "I am going to cum!" he exclaimed as she grabbed the dick and placed it between her breasts as his hot sperm hit her smooth flesh, sloshing layers of cum onto her breasts as she bent her head down to taste it for herself. She placed him between her breasts and gently cupped them together bouncing them along his length now and she tasted the cum that lapped her creamy breasts. He couldn't control himself as he plunged into the space between her breasts and continued to do so and she licked him ever so often.

"Sakura-san that was… amazing!"

"Call me Sakura, Yumire" she almost demanded of him as she lifted herself up and wiped the cum off her breasts with her vest. Licking the last bit of cum off her lips, Yumire grabbed her face and crashed his lips against hers.

She knew where this was leading and she guided him into her bedroom. He caught hold of her ass and spanked it as she walked into the room crashing onto the bed, snapping a finger at him curling it towards herself, asking him to come towards her and he did so.

He sucked her breasts until they were sore and swollen up. His fingers encircled her clit and nudged at the entrance before plunging in one swoop inside and earning himself a loud moan from Sakura who was busy sucking at the crook of his neck. "Yumire…" her voice trailed off as he plunged his fingers into her repeatedly and forced another finger inside her; finger fucking her to the end of her orgasm as she gaped at his stunning face that was panting with pleasure. She was sure she didn't want to hurt his feeling but she needed this; this release, this tension that had been building up inside her.

He grabbed her hips and looked at her eyes intently, she nodded and he gradually aligned his dick with her opening rubbing himself on her and coating his length with her juices and she moaned as her head swirled back. He rubbed himself along her clit harder as her moans became louder and then pushed his entire length inside her. He kept fucking her as her breasts bounced up and down and he watched them with deep lust, he grabbed one of them and squeezed it roughly, then grabbing both her nipples and squeezing them tightly. She screamed with pleasure as he continued to squeeze them and fuck her now dripping clit as his pace increased and so did his roughness.

For some reason, she felt her heightened demand of his roughness. She felt as though he was punishing her for something she had done and she did not feel like stopping him. He turned her over and pulled out of her, he held her tight ass in his hands and slapped them across before prodding his dick into her dripping pussy. She pushed himself into her quickly yanking himself in and out of her with great speed.

"AAH!" She screamed as her body coiled and twisted into a bunch of nerves. He kept at his pace and spanked her ass a few times causing her to scream more in pleasure. He pushed into her harder as she too kept pushing her ass towards him. Her orgasm hit her like an undulating wave that stopped resonating only after a few minutes, her juices trickling down his dick as he kept at his activity before he too came inside her. Hot semen exploded inside her pussy and he pushed his length into her one last time before collapsing right beside her holding her in his arms.

Several silent moments later, she tossed in his arms and put a hand on his chest before speaking, "Yumire, this was only a onetime thing okay?" He heard the words clearly, yet there was an assurance in the way she said it that she'd be wanting more of him very soon.

Sakura knew getting involved with a co-worker was wrong, hell even getting involved with anyone in the first place was wrong. Yet she felt like her release was soon going to be her ruin.

With a sigh she slumbered into his arms and fell asleep.

 **Review, fav and tell me how you felt about this chapter. I know the details were too intense but I couldn't keep it in,** ** _I HAD TO_** **make Sakura look a lot more matured and taint her character a little. I want her character to undergo a darker phase here before she really gets down to business.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Review, favorite and share this story if you like it. I got asked how long this would turn out to be and I suppose 10-12 chapters in total.**

 **Also about the sex scene I depicted previously, I know it was a little too elaborate and OOC for Sakura but I still think it would suffice to place Sakura in a different light from now on. She has moved past Sasuke and prepares to settle down in her life.**

A veiled figure stood in the distance of the dark and narrow corridor. Sakura inched closer wanting to see for herself who it was, she recognized the corridor as the one in her house and quickly realized that she was in her house sans the lights. The house had eeriness to it; an inscrutable silence and only the faint noise of dampened muffles could be heard as she stepped closer to the veiled figure standing at the very end of the passage.

When only a few feet away from him, she asked, "Who are you?"

The veiled figure now turned half way around to gape at her presence and spoke, "Are you really asking me that, _Sakura?"_ and with that he pulled the veil off his face to reveal himself.

Sakura stood suspended in her shock as two sets of eyes stares intently at her, one deep red and the other a purple grey with several concentric circles in it. A spinning sharingan now relaxed into position with three tomoe. Sasuke moved closer to Sakura as she faltered in her step and kept taking small steps away from him in absolute fear.

She was dreading this moment more than anything as he paced towards her now and yanked her arm out of his way and pushed her against the wall on his left, his hand fastened to her throat in a deathly grip.

"You have wanted me for so long, so what's the matter now? Why the sudden fear of my presence? _Sakura?_ " He sneered at her, pressing his lips in a scornful grin as he inched his hand up towards her face. His thumb brushed against her lower lips as his face inched closer to hers as her breathing became more rapid.

"Sasuke, wha-what are you doing here?"

"That should be the least of your concerns, Sakura. Aren't you going to jump into my arms and ask me to be yours?" he asked her diabolically.

"Sasuke? I-I still haven't for-forgotten everything you did to me. Why would I want you to be with me when I can't even forgive you" she said more confidently now. He placed his thumb on her cheek and stroked it tenderly and inched even closer, their breath's intermingling and causing Sakura uneasiness. He stopped for nothing even though he sensed her discomfort, inching even closer as their lips met in a tender and soft kiss. She jerked back yet he pressed into her lips softly even as she wanted to break the contact. His hands moved onto her neck, grasping it in a delicate choke as her eyes now closed falling prey to his movements. She gave in to the kiss and pressed against his lips gently feeling the grip of his hand around her neck that squeezed ever so gently. Her breathing quickened as his lips became more fervent and hungry for her, ravaging her soft lips as he sucked on each lip causing her to moan. Her eyes had only opened in slits when suddenly she felt a painful thrust in her abdomen; a searing agony in Sasuke's eyes welcomed her as her eyes met his and lowered to where the shooting pain rose from. Her eyes bored into the sight of his hand holding a sharp kunai thrust into her abdomen as he grinned at her with malevolent thoughts. Her eyes widened and teared up as he twisted the kunai into her abdomen deeply earning a loud screech of pain and she fumbled in her step and grasped his chest with her hand. He watched her clumsily grasp for him as she fell to her knees, his hand now holding the blood-soaked kunai, watching her with a vicious grin.

She slumped onto the floor in a puddle of blood that oozed from the wound as she gasped for air and hit her arms here and there flailing towards the figure standing over her. Her senses all came to a shut as she choked and felt her body dilapidate due to the blood loss. Her eyes closing into thin slits as she watched the last of Sasuke walk out of her house closing the door behind him.

Sakura woke up from the nasty dream with her arms grasping her stomach in an almost delusional paranoia as her lungs sucked every ounce of breath. Her eyes hovered around the room seeking for Sasuke immediately realizing she was only dreaming. She quickly noticed the man sleeping beside her, Yumire; who was now half awake from her frightened pants as he rubbed his eyes and put one arm on Sakura's shoulder.

"Sakura, are you alright?" He asked with concern.

She turned towards him as he looked at her with worry, "It was only a dream, I am sorry for waking you up" she said as she quickly wrapped the bed sheet over her previously exposed chest. He gaped at the sight of her exposed flesh as he looked into her eyes.

There was a moment of silence before she asked, "I'll go make us some tea and Yakizakana and Natto. Is that okay?"

"Yes of course".

"Oh and if you're wondering, the bathroom is on the right over there. Extra towels and everything are in the cabinets inside. Make yourself at home" she quickly said although she didn't want her guest to become too used to all of this since she hadn't really planned on having him here in the first place.

She grabbed her nightdress from the drawers and slipped it on before pacing towards the kitchen. She grabbed the fridge and flung a bottle out, placing it quickly on her forehead and grasping some much needed air. She had a terrible head ache and she needed to feel better. Pulling a tablet out of the small bowl in the corner of the kitchen she popped it into her mouth gulping it down with water.

Quickly tossing the fish into the pan, she prepared the tea and sweet beans as she felt the presence of someone approaching her. She quickly turned around in fright, as she discovered a drenched Yumire standing in the doorway of the kitchen staring at her while he toweled his hair. He was clad in only a towel as he approached her.

"Umm, that smells good" he said as he placed a kiss on her shoulders and traced her neck with his tongue kissing her cheek.

"Yumire…" her voice trailed off causing Yumire's expectations to meet an end.

"Sakura, I want to know what last night was all about?" he asked disgruntled.

"Yumire, it…it was irrational of us to have engaged in all of that. I am sorry if my actions misled your feelings in anyway" she quickly turned around to hide the guilt in her eyes. Yumire stood there, confused as he retracted his arms from her body and fell at a loss for words.

"So that was only a one night stand?" he asked rather frustrated and saddened.

"I hate to say so, but yes" she was serving the food onto two plates as she answered and quickly poured the tea into a ceramic kettle as she brought two glasses and the plates to the table behind her. She quickly turned to look at him as she noted the disappointment in his eyes, she stepped forwards laying a gentle kiss on his cheek, "Let's eat?"

He followed suit and sat down as she poured him some tea. They both ate in sheer silence.

It had been three days. Three days of overtime shifts. Three days of piled up paperwork that underwent scrutiny. Three days of back to back treatment of patients and rigorous surgeries. Sakura was exhausted as she made her way home after sifting through all the paper work and realized she was done for the night. It was already 12 AM and she felt she was at the end of her wits. She trudged down the road towards her home realizing the only thing that could comfort her at this point of time would be warm glass of sake.

She walked into the bar as the door made a jingle as she peered into the crowd, realizing there was none. Only a handful of souls sat in different booths and a couple of people at the bar stools were there to greet her presence. She walked towards the bar tender and spoke, "A warm glass of sake please".

"Make that two!" a voice came from behind her as she turned around to see who it was. Tsunade made her way to a bar stool beside Sakura as she sat and looked at her in joy. "Tsunade-sama!"

"Aye aye! I know what you're thinking. What is the old lady doing here when she should be resting at home since she retired? Well the old lady needs a drink from time to time now doesn't she?" she said with delight.

"Ha ha I was only wondering why you were here so late at night. Nothing else. You obviously should be enjoying your retirement as you please" she said swiftly

"Hmm is that right. Well, how are things at the hospital?"

"Things can get worked up sometimes. Paper work piles up like never before. I have a strange feeling that we might have to digitalize a lot of records to minimize on all the paper consumption and to make things simpler since there is no counterbalance between what goes on paper and what stays in digital confines. It can get frustrating sometimes which is why, sometimes I need this" she said as she cast the glass of sake in the air.

"Well I am glad you are getting the hang of being the Head of the hospital. It surely is a huge responsibility. Soon even Naruto will be prepared for his turn at being Hokage; you both have certainly made so much growth. Although, Sasuke..." she finished with a tentative pause.

"I wonder what he plans on doing" she finished.

"Well as long as he's being no trouble I believe he's doing us all a favor" Sakura ended her statement sarcastically. A faint expression of disbelief struck on Tsunade's face as she stared into Sakura's emerald eyes wondering how someone who admired her team mate with such love was now merely repulsed by their mention.

"Whatever happened to your liking for him?" she finally asked.

"I grew up, shishou. I realized there are more important things than just fawning over a boy after all the hateful things he had done" Sakura stated.

A long pause in their conversation led to Sakura asked the bar tender for another serving of the drink to which he turned around and looked at her.

"Of course ma'am, and would you like my head on a spike along with that?"

Sakura raised her eyes to meet his before realizing his ever so familiar voice; Sasuke's onyx eye stared into her with a drive to yank her head off her body. She quickly got off her stool and tossed the glass in her hand at him breaking her out of her delusion.

Tsunade stared at her dubiously as she looked back and forth between Sakura and the bar tender. The bar tender clearly shocked look dead pan at Sakura.

"I-I am s-so sorry!" she exclaimed upon realizing her fault and immediately looked at her teacher, "I must leave, I am sorry about that" she finished after grabbing some money from her pocket and placing it on the counter and fleeted towards the door.

Tsunade stared at her student walking away in clear shock as she reckoned what got Sakura in such a state in the first place. She finished her drink and placed money at the counter and rose from her seat, leaving the bar. As she walked outside in hopes of catching her student, she realized she was standing in an empty street. Sakura was long gone.

Sakura reached her apartment and jabbed the keys into the keyhole yanking her door open quickly shoving her bag and belongings onto the couch. Her breathing has become staggered as she raced into the room, ripping her clothes off her body feeling the sudden heat emitting from her body. It was as though her skin was boiling and screaming to be soothed. She stepped out of her skirt and clad in only in her underwear, she paced into her bathroom and stood in front of the mirror staring at her reflection. Her emerald orbs were protruding out of her lids and she was almost losing color from her face. She immediately drew the cabinet behind the mirror open and pulled two pill boxes out closing the cabinet.

She flung the pills onto her palm and tossed it into her mouth dragging a glass towards the tap and gulping it all down before calming down. Her arms were splayed onto the sink as she filled her lungs with air. As she raised her face towards the mirror her heart broke its rhythm and plummeted as she saw the image in her mirror growing darker and darker. A man quickly grabbed her back and her shoulder and punctured her neck with a sharp dagger as he stared intently into her giant orbs; her scream filling the foreign noise in her bathroom as she collapsed onto the floor and watched his presence scatter into black smoke.

 ** _Review, fav and write to me about any themes you feel I should go along with. Thank you for all the response! And yes Sasuke is coming back real soon… read on to know more_** ** _J_**


	5. Chapter 5

**Honestly loved all reviews I received and yes I wish to wrap this story up by the end of this week so stay tuned, bookmark, fav or follow this story to keep up with what happens next.**

A pricking sensation brings Sakura out of her unconsciousness as she recalls the events from last night to make sense of her position. Her conscience recalls the dark figure that stabbed her neck and suddenly she snaps out of the horror as she realizes she had slumbered away on the floor of her bathroom.

She quickly grabs her pill bottles from the cabinet and reads the prescription on them; take one pill only during an episode. She realized she had taken too many which was why she was knocked out. Peeking out of her door, she peered at the clock that showed 9:23 AM as she cursed and hit the shower because she was running late. Work would have piled up by now and she wouldn't know what to call for her excuse. Her phone rang during the shower as she fastened a towel around herself and paced across her bedroom yanking the receiver holding it to her ear.

"Sakura-san, are you okay? You aren't in office today and I don't see any meetings scheduled for you in your planner" Sasha exclaimed over the phone.

"Oh Sasha, I am running a little late because I overslept. I want you to overlook my files for the next hour before I reach. Also run last night's paperwork into the records and when I get there update me on the patient's status from yesterday's surgery line up okay?" Sakura said, rather demandingly.

"Yes Sakura-san".

Sakura skipped around the room drenched as she dried herself off and grabbed her clothes, today opting for a red vest that went up to her thighs and a pair of black shorts and her usual belt. She cranked bread into the toaster and decided to make herself some coffee before hunting for the newspaper on her doorstep. Just as she turned around she heard footsteps along the staircase climbing up.

"You're a little late, forehead?"

"Ino?" Sakura recognized her blonde friend as she neared her before opening the door for her beckoning her to come in.

"You want some coffee? I was just making myself some" Sakura offered.

"Yeah, I'll have some since _that_ is the only thing you have these days to offer" Ino said rather sarcastically. Sakura returned her smirk as she poured more milk and coffee into her machine before placing the newspaper on the kitchen's countertop.

"So what brings you this fine morning?" she finally asked.

"Well, I just wanted you to know first before I let anyone else hear the news from either Sai or me" Ino replied.

"What news?"

"Wait you aren't -" Sakura only added as Ino butt in.

"I am getting married!" she reaffirmed her.

There was a pause in the conversation, before the coffee machine buzzed as Sakura turned around and grabbed the jug before placing two mugs onto the countertop in front of Ino. After pouring it into the mugs she pushed one towards her finally breaking the silence.

"Congratulations Ino".

"That wasn't even a decent response. What's wrong with you? Aren't you happy for me? I thought you found Sai the right person for me?" Ino added to her discombobulation.

"No no it's nothing like that. I was just…" Sakura lowered her face staring blankly into her mug. "I just realized you'd not be around me anymore".

"BULLSHIT! I can't believe you think I'd ditch you just because I got married. I mean are you crazy? We have known each other for fifteen years now, why would I forget about you?" Ino finished her outcry.

"Well we haven't seen each other much anyway in the past few months ever since the whole Kido thing happened and I just thought you and Sai were busy lost in each other's love" Sakura finished with a smirk. Ino flung the newspaper at her almost hurling her mug out of Sakura's grip to which she gave a deep chuckle and resumed drinking.

"I am certainly happy for you, just worried about Sai though" she finished.

"Oh my god. You are going to get it from me this time Sakura!" Ino squalled.

She flung the newspaper at her again, hitting her head this time and Sakura only gave a small smile as she turned around to the now burning toast that popped out of her toaster.

"I was going to ask you if you were interested in dinner tonight and now I am worried if you'll insist on cooking and burn everything up" Ino responded.

Sakura simply stuck her tongue out before tossing the contents into the trash can and pulling vegetables out of her fridge to make kobachi. Ino continued to drink her coffee as she stared at her friend, "And?" she later asked.

"And what?" Sakura replied

"Will you be interested in going to dinner with me?" Ino asked rather sheepishly.

"Oh, yeah sure".

Ino simply shook her head as she picked the newspaper up and read the headlines before speaking. "Have you heard the awful terrorist activities that have heightened along the borders of the Land of Rivers? It's just hopeless to believe there will ever be an end to all the fighting you know. The news is that these anarchist groups have taken hostage a whole village and plan on negotiating terms with neighboring countries to gain more power and monopoly."

Sakura only heard her words and seemed to be less interested as she was rather content with how passive things had been in the village. She hadn't been assigned missions in quite a while now, well majorly because of her long drawn kidnapping and subsequent security threat.

"Well I am glad none of that is happening around here" she only replied.

"How can you be glad? Aren't you understanding that this could turn into something major like the Akatsuki and it would only end up being hell again" Ino was now bordering on shouting and speaking loudly.

"Look Ino, after everything that has happened I don't think an 'Akatsuki' is at all in the makings. This will soon be put an end to. I am just not very comfortable with any of this myself but after undergoing everything that I have in past few months I feel like there is more to the suffering of people than what we hear. For all we know this anarchist group is actually working on their own vision of reform or something" Sakura stated with absolution as she chopped the vegetable and prepared seasoning for pickling them.

Ino stared at her back as she let the words sink in. After the words made more sense to Ino she simply nodded before placing her mug at the sink and placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder before bidding her good bye. Just as she placed her hand, Sakura turned to see and jerked as she yelled and found a tentacle advancing towards her and immediately shoved it away. Ino simply took a few steps back before looking at Sakura questionably.

Just when Sakura realized what had happened she simply turned around and went back to cutting vegetable to make sure actions did not seem absurd as she exclaimed, "God Ino you scared me ha ha" right before Ino inched closer and stood beside her almost believing her lie.

After a long pause, Ino spoke, "I'll be here at 9, don't overdo it okay?"

Sakura nodded and with that Ino went on her way leaving the apartment in its tacit condition. She tossed the vegetables into the pan before placing the lid on it and turned around spreading her arms onto the counter and looking into the empty surrounding. She was worrying about her morbid hallucinations, fearing their growing occurrences. Suddenly she paced towards her bathroom yanking the door open, instantly kneeling at pot pouring her guts out as she threw up her coffee and whatever she had eaten last night out of her system.

Raising her head and washing herself up, she decided it was time she called up Sasha and let her know she was going to take an off today. Sakura had been feeling queasy all morning and this seemed like just the right thing to do.

She immediately grabbed the phone and hit redial, seconds later Sasha picked up. "Sakura Haruno's office, May I help you?"

"Sasha, I won't be coming in today".

"Umm, Sakura-san? What happened?"

"I don't feel right, I want you to mail me any files if they are urgent or rather fax them okay?" Sakura explained briefly.

"Don't worry Sakura-san I will try my best not to burden you, please take your rest. I will see you tomorrow". With that the call was cut as Sakura hung up.

She rose from her couch and went into her kitchen feeling a sudden relief as she had the entire day to herself. She decided she would shop for groceries later in the afternoon and prepare a lovely carte of dishes for dinner with Ino and probably also fix her office room up as it was still mess of paper work and other medicinal apparatus.

She plated her kobachi and ate contently before deciding to take a quick nap and retired into her bedroom.

Sakura woke a few hours later deciding to clean up her office first. After a heavy box of piled paper and vials and other medical equipment were discarded, her office looked rather functional as the wooden flooring glistened and the pale canary walls appeared rather more comfortable. She packed up some of her useless files into a small box and placed it atop her small cupboard that housed a lot of potions and other things.

She moved out of her office and changed into her casual clothes; a pair of black paddle pushers and a red tank top. She grabbed her wallet and rushed out of her house breathing the fresh air but realizing it was quite hot outside now, she quickly moved onto the street before disappearing into the crowd of busy people.

After her shopping spree at the food market, she placed all the articles she brought onto the counter quickly thinking of what to prepare for the dinner. She decided on Shogayaki, baked tonkatsu and steamed rice along with unagi don. As she started cooking she felt a wave of solace in her activities as it had been quite a while since she had last enjoyed a day to herself.

After three hours of continuous cooking, heaving and tossing food around in a pan, Sakura set the dining table in the room outside the kitchen to pristine perfection placing every bowl with garnishing's and chopsticks alongside fine china that laid on intricate place mats.

After a quick shower and change of clothes, she heard the door bell and walked towards the door opening it to an excited Ino standing in the doorway. She welcomed her inside and they both sat at the chairs, Ino almost gaping at all the food her friend had managed to prepare.

"Hey I told you not to overdo it didn't I? Now you're just making me look bad" Ino stated in rather embarrassment.

"Well I decided to take a day off and wanted to prepare us a feast. Now dig in!"

Conversation picked up as Ino narrated to Sakura how Sai had proposed to her and displayed her joy but revealed that she had already known as she'd gone through his belongings once and found a gold wedding band inside a small box tucked away in the pockets of his trousers one time almost preparing Ino for him. Sakura only filled her in on the humungous over load of work she had to deal with on a daily basis and how little she was now able to spend time on studying new articles on health and medicines very now and then.

They were both midway through their meal, when suddenly Sakura felt the need to look up at Ino instantly regretting it. In front of her sat a very grouchy figure covered in grime the shade of tar as it dripped from its surface onto her hard oak floor, she got up from her chair and immediately felt a restrain on her movement as she clung to her chair unwillingly. Just as the figure moved towards her, it grabbed her arm and twisted it, contorting it to snap and break as she suddenly felt the restrain on her lift and she immediately slumped to the floor. Sakura squealed in pain but pushed herself up and flung at the figure with her other arm only to be caught by a protrusion of it and shoved a few feet away. She again picked herself up, her broken arm now dangling along her side as her vision fluctuated a few times before overlooking a dazed Ino standing on her feet with chopsticks in her hand. Sakura realized she had imagined all of this and quickly moved towards her.

"What the hell was that Sakura?"

"It-it was nothing Ino. I just… I must have seen something prompting me to react. It's alright I am taking my medication, I'll be fine" Sakura hastened a reply almost revealing too much.

Ino's gaze focused onto her as she saw Sakura's now shivering hands, she got up to go towards Sakura to relieve her of her fear when suddenly Sakura shoved her out of the way. "Stay away!"

Ino looked at her now in complete shock, "Ino, please just… stay away okay?"

Ino didn't move as she kept staring before deciding it give it one last try. Sakura could only see black. She could see a grime covered figure, staring malevolently at her aching to thrust her body into the wall. Suddenly the figure approached her again as she screamed and jolted out of her posture shoving the figure out of her sight before screaming, "Ino, please leave! I won't-I can't hurt you!"

Ino laid on the floor staring at a bewildered Sakura, "Sakura what's the matter?! What the hell has gotten into you?"

Sakura did not reply and only twitched in pain as she fell to her knees and said one more time, "Ino, you should leave. It isn't safe for you to be around me right now".

It took Ino a few seconds to register as she leapt up and raced out of the house. Ino was outraged yet afraid for her friend; she made her way towards Naruto's house and banged the door on reaching.

Meanwhile in Sakura's apartment, Sakura got off the floor pacing into her bathroom yanking the cabinet open almost unhinging it, pulling out her pill bottles and spreading them onto her palm, gulping them down after cupping water from the tap. She stood there in silence before realizing her act of lunacy and headed into her living room shutting the front door. She walked towards her now abandoned dining table and transferred all dishes into her sink. Slowly realizing the effects of her medicine and retiring into her bedroom, almost making it halfway to the bed before slumping into it in a deep slumber.

Naruto opened the door to a baffled Ino as she shoved past him and made her way inside. "Yeah sure, come on in" he said rather sarcastically.

"Naruto! Sakura..! Saku-sakura! She's lost it!" Ino recited in frantic horror.

Naruto looked rather puzzled as he realized Ino was shivering. He moved towards her placing both his hands on her shoulders, "Calm down, calm down now. Ino, tell me what happened" and with that Ino narrated to him the entirety of her experience as he heard in utter dismay.

 ** _So yes, that is the end of Chapter 5. I will be uploading the rest tomorrow and I am looking forward to your reviews. Follow the story and know what happens next. TEEHEEE!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for all the positive and critical feedback. I acknowledge the rest of you to also review my previous chapters and this one for improvement in my future work. I know the previous chapter was a bit dull but trust me this one won't be. Read on to know more.**

 _*TTTTTRING*_

The noxious ringing of the phone brought Sakura out of her slumber as she gently rubbed her eyelids before extending her arm to draw the receiver to her ear.

"Sakura-san, how is your health? Will you be coming in for work today?" Sasha spoke.

"God, what time is it? I must have overslept or something" she mumbled into the receiver before turning her eyes to the clock on the wall which displayed 10:45 AM. Immediately she jerked off the bed in a frenzy realizing she was late without even placing the receiver back. Sasha's voice carried on indistinctively in the background as Sakura jumped into the steaming hot shower before adorning her clothes and heading out to the hospital. She clearly remembered she had to sit on an important meeting today at about 11 AM with all the board members of the Hospital and some members of the Council to discuss the budget for the next quarter and was already running half an hour late. To top it all off, her budget planning and some other important reports were all incomplete and she was completely at a loss for words to build a sound excuse.

On reaching her office she tossed a few files here and there searching for her budget planner before Sasha walked in and handed her a bundle of files, "Sakura-san, I finished these out last night. I knew you wouldn't get the time to work on them so I finished them for you. They should suffice for the meeting for now," she finished.

Sakura clearly couldn't thank her enough both due to the lack of time and her embarrassment as she grabbed the files Sasha handed over and raced towards the conference room upstairs.

Pushing the doors open, she saw an arsenal of eight board members and five Council members seated around a round table with the chief seat empty. She was instantly surprised when she noticed Naruto and the Hokage, Kakashi Hatake seated beside the chief seat and widened her gaze. She slowed her pace as she made it to her seat and sat down, placing her files onto the table spreading them to find the budget planner.

"Sakura-san, you are late," said an awfully stern and senile Koshima with a frown on her face. Koshima had led the board member's team for the past eight years now. She wasn't one to accept faults or errors and help a strong disapproval for Sakura due to her young age and appointment as the Head of the Hospital, a position Koshima had eyed for quite some time.

"I apologize to the board as well as the Council for my misconduct, I wasn't well since yesterday and completely lost track of time. Shall we begin with the proceedings under discussion?" she quickly gained authority over the lot as she flipped through the budget report trying to estimate the newer renditions Sasha had updated into it.

"Yes please, we have been waiting for far too long discussing gibberish, please continue," replied Hayame, another board member.

Sakura explained to the board the entirety of her budget, as usual including the staple budget along with other rudimentary requirements the Hospital needed to modify their labs with adding them to the monetary funding provided after defining their scope to the Council to seek their approval.

The board as well as the Council discussed the changes made to the budget before Sakura, turned to Naruto and Kakashi sending them a unamusing stare before heard one of the Councilmen speak, "Sakura-san we are exceedingly satisfied with all the requirements made in the report except for a couple. The board will discuss and assess their importance in more depth amongst themselves before rendering a response. For now, we shall put a hold on them and furnish for the rest".

Sakura's face exhibited a small smile before speaking, "We have other matters of urgency to discuss as well" before continuing onto the other files that Sasha had prepared for her.

Two hours and several decisive talks later, Sakura sat in her chair waiting for all the board members and councilmen to leave, leaving only her, Naruto and the Hokage left in the room.

"I can clearly see you weren't here to hear me rant to these people explaining to them budgets and other exceedingly important amenities and issues of the Hospital?" Sakura spoke after a long pause. Kakashi simply got up from his seat and walked towards her, Sakura turned her chair towards him before raising her head to look at him. He bored his eyes into her emerald ones before speaking, "Sakura, is there something to wish to share with me or Naruto?"

She did not speak. Silence filled the room once again before he spoke, "Is there something you do not wish to tell other people? You can always share it with us you know, we won't judge you or reprimand you of your actions. Whatever may the cause be,"

"There is no such thing, Lord Hokage".

"Sakura," Naruto finally spoke.

"Naruto, I don't know why you both decided to ambush me like this but I must say, I am really thankful to you two for worrying about me".

"Sakura, Ino came to me last night and told me about your-" he broke off, before staring into her eyes. Sakura's gaze now transfixed to his, "Your very apparent mental breakdown before you asked her to leave in a vehement attempt at restraining yourself".

Sakura did not speak, she simply resorted to turning around in her seat facing the window behind her that facilitated the view of the village, bright lights twinkling into the distance.

"Sakura, as I told you, you can certainly share with us your worries or qualms. Anything that is distressing you and I can get the Hospital to cut back on your workload so you can relax for a few weeks and then come back when you please," Kakashi added to Naruto's words.

After a few long moments of dead silence, Sakura realized it was futile to hide her severe hallucinations and growing anxiety.

"I have been having certain episodes here and there".

"What kind of episodes?" Kakashi asked. Naruto now inched closer to her after getting up from his seat.

"Umm... they weren't so violent at first. It started after my kidnapping. I was sure a few anti-anxiety medication and mild sedatives would help me get over them but they have become more persistent since the past week," she responded.

"What sort of episodes are these?" Naruto couldn't seem to hide his curiosity.

"Well, they uh, they are very abstract and malevolent at times".

"I see. Should you seek any medical attention from the psychologists at the hospital?" Kakashi seemed to inquire.

"I suppose this has dragged out too far for me to avoid it," she replied. Pondering over his suggestion realizing the grievousness of her situation.

"Well, then I'll leave this to you then. Naruto and I will support you through this as long you are seeking medical help for your condition. We shall do our best to ease your mental strain and temporarily get you off the from the workload" Kakashi declared. Naruto nodded in support and placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder. She lifted her gaze to them and gave them a small smile, one that lasted as long as Sasha didn't hurtle through the doors.

"Sakura-san, a few injured shinobi have just arrived. Should you assist or do you want me to assign someone else to their case?" she quickly spoke.

"Sasha, I want you to assign someone else. Sakura here will be relieved of her duties till further acknowledgment," Lord Hokage replied to her query.

Sakura simply looked up at her secretary in affirmation and nodded, rising from her seat and walking alongside Naruto leaving the conference room. They made their way downstairs as she headed for the Psychology Department instantly running into Zakaru Hamasaki the head of Psychology. She paused and looked at him, Zakaru took a few seconds to interpret yet he knew exactly what caused her to come before him. He simply nodded and directed her to his office. The two followed his lead and entered into his dimly lit office that had dark gray tiles, off white furniture and gray blinds. Thick books stacked on the shelves along with a couple of metallic trolleys scattered his office. Naruto and Sakura sat in front of him in the metal chairs.

"I believe the medication we offered you hasn't helped?" he simply concluded after their long silence.

"It did for a while, but my body has suddenly grown more inviolable to them," Sakura replied.

"I see. Well you shouldn't be continuing work in your condition then,"

"I am not. I am stepping down until I get myself treated," she stated.

"Good. We should start your treatment then. How about you come in tomorrow for therapy and discuss your symptoms with Kohaku-san and me, we'll get you started on the right medication and other assistance you will need, is that alright?" Zakaru asked her reassuringly.

"That sounds fine".

"Well then, come in at about noon and we'll meet you for therapy." Zakaru rose from his seat while the two walked towards the door, "I hope this time we shall eliminate all of your symptoms and receive you back at work after you clear the psychological evaluation to deem you fit".

She simply nodded after moving out his office.

After gathering several books for her herself and packing them into cartons that were carried out by two orderlies in the hospital to deliver to her apartment, Naruto walked her home. She walked alongside in absolute silence. She reflected on her very recent decisions and realized it was best for her to have more people around her as it seemed to calm her down and distract her from having any more hallucinations. Naruto offered to have her move in with him and Hinata but she refused, stating that she didn't want to invade their privacy or cause any ruckus. She agreed that she needed company, so she stated that it was best she ask Ino up on the offer for her to move in with Sakura instead.

The arrangement went fine. After completing dozens of medical textbooks in her idle time, attending several therapy sessions, talking about all sorts of emotions and taking several different medications at different events. Sakura had finally met her resolve.

It had been exactly three months since her last episode and she had never felt any better. Her skin glowed, lips all flush and there was a certain vibrancy to her entire appearance. Even her hair was more radiant and rather more, pink.

It had been a couple of hours into the day when the doorbell rang, she was stuffing dishes into the dishwasher as she went to open the door. Standing in the doorway was Naruto grinning his brightest smile, she welcomed him inside. He walked over to the little island kitchen and sat on the other side of the counter as Sakura asked him for coffee to which he nodded. She simply poured some into a mug and gave it to him.

After some customary small talk, Naruto spoke after staying mute some quite a while. He knew she had to be completely calm if he had to inform her about this. So he made sure the small talk was gratifying as he could make it, appreciating her recovery and remarking how much more pretty she appeared.

Sakura slowly realized he wasn't just here to check up on her but rather something more important. She turned around and gave him a rather anticipating smile, resting her hands on the slab on the counter in the middle of kitchen, meeting his gaze and trying to read his mind.

After another short period of silence and intermittent stares between them, Naruto finally spoke.

"He's back".

 ** _Aren't you all hyped? YES! Sasuke's back. And here's goes Sakura's mental resolve spiraling out just as it had stabilized. HAHAHA. Well wait until tomorrow for the next two chapters, see ya! Leave your reviews and follow the story. I might just extend this because it doesn't fit the original frame I had decided. So let's see what happens._**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thanks for the reviews, keep them coming. I am updating this story as soon as I can so that it ends by the end of this week. I already have an idea for the next story I'll be writing so I hope you all look forward to it. I have college starting in a couple of weeks and I know I'll be getting busy then so there won't be much writing then which is why I am hurrying this.**

Sakura's breathing trembled as she felt the walls of her brain collapse and shuddered in abhorrence. Her voice was meek, yet audible. "Sa-Sasuke is-is back?"

Naruto simply nodded and looked out of the kitchen's window. He did not want to give out any more details than he had because he felt that she couldn't endure the talk anymore. Sakura's hand accidentally hit the bowls of fruits that was placed on the slab behind her as an apple rolled over and fell onto the floor. Naruto bent over and grabbed it before placing it back moving closer to Sakura only to hear her heightened breathing.

"Are you alright, Sakura-chan?" he placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him before pressing her lips into an awfully unreal smile before turning around. "Is there anything else you wanted to tell me Naruto?"

After snapping out of his thought, Naruto replied, "Oh yeah, Kakashi wants us to meet him tomorrow. He didn't say what it was but I guess it has something to do with Sasuke coming back," he gazed at Sakura's back expecting a reply but she simply nodded.

"Well, I'll get going then". He turned around to leave; the kitchen now felt less and less pleasing to Sakura. She walked into her office and buried herself in textbook after textbook forgetting everything that had just occurred.

After what seemed like hours of reading, scanning and noting she moved her body, rising from her carpet which had initially seemed like a comfortable thing to sit on only now realizing how her ass had completely frozen. She decided to make herself some lunch as she moved towards the kitchen tossing her book aside. In mere seconds, her doorbell rang again. This time Sakura really froze. She felt the abnormal urge to run as if someone had violated her privacy. Gathering all her courage she slowly walked towards the door, making it long enough for the doorbell to ring again sending shivers down her spine. She reached the doorknob, curling her fingers against it before swiftly turning it around and pulling the door open.

A small bouquet of white roses welcomed her as she stared at the figure trying to recognize them before it lowered the bouquet down. Sakura heaved a sigh of relief on recognizing the familiar navy blue hair and dull blue eyes. Yumire stood before her, grinning as she pushed the grill open to let him in.

"Sakura-san, how have you been?" he sheepishly asked hiding his blush.

"Yumire I didn't expect to see you," she replied before adding "I am fine, what are you doing here?" her gaze now shifting to the flowers he was holding.  
"I was uh just in the area, so I decided to see you," he replied before looking down as his cheeks reddened, "Oh uh, these are for you by the way" he added as he extended his hand passing her the bouquet. She simply grasped them as her cheeks turned a shade of pink, she could smell the roses easily even though she held them below her chest.

"Thank you, you didn't have to," she responded in a small voice.

"Well you have been gone quite a long time now, and I was really well, really missing your presence. How is your health?" he merely reacted spreading his hands apart in oh-its-nothing gesture.

"I am doing quite well, thank you. How are things at the hospital?" she quickly asked. She really did want to know the status of her workplace since she wasn't really aware of anything happening.

"Oh well, ever since Koshima took over things have well, become quite interesting," he seemed to sound a lot sarcastic.

"And why is that?" she simply asked.

"Well for starters, her work aesthetic is like that of a parasite, always hovering over her subordinates and the department head's of their doings and overlooked every little proceeding. Nothing gets past her without her approval and she clearly doesn't plan on handing over reigns too soon. She's even gone to the lengths of customizing her office to her tastes and plans on expanding it" he explained.

"Wow. Well, that says a lot," she responded bleakly.

"When shall you be coming back?" he inquired.

"I suppose in a week or two. I do not wish to push my limits, so I want to take as much time as I can to recover".

Yumire simply stood there for a few moments, before she realized his stiff body as the situation bordered on awkward. She beckoned him inside, "Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Oh it's alright, I was just going to go home now. I think I forgot to mention to you, I have decided to apply to the Medical Corps for aid in Battle services and Special Ops as a Jounin," he stated with a small smile on his face. "I shall need to clear the Jounin exam and other tests before I am cleared to serve".

Sakura turned around to look at him, "Oh Yumire that is such great news," she clearly was happy for him. "What about the hospital now? You plan to leave?"

"Yes that is what I will have to do in case I pass and they plan to deploy me," he replied, his lips now frowning into a thin line.

"I see," she only added. She turned towards the counter, pulling a vase out of the cabinet below and filling it with water before pulling the wrapper off the bouquet placing it in the vase. Yumire took a few steps closer to her shifting right behind her placing both his palms flat on the counter towering over her petite form.

"Sakura..." his voice trailed off as his face lowered onto her shoulder as she slightly shuddered due to their closeness, almost feeling his breath linger on her skin. His lips very gently grazed the skin of her shoulder as he places tender kisses along it reaching her neck. She simply murmured under her breath as her weight shifted backward as she pressed against him. He too pressed towards her, wrapping his hands around her waist, violently turning her body towards him in his usually domineering fashion. Their face only inches away from each other, "Yumire, we can't," she whispered as his pale blue eyes met her emerald ones gazing intently.

"I am not going to be around for too long anyway. You shouldn't stop yourself from letting me in," he gently replied.

His lips brushed against hers as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "You know you want to".

He dived into the kiss as their lips met in a frenzy as his hands now roamed her body and hers lifted to press against his chest. The kiss lasted a few seconds before she pushed him further away, his arms barely grasping at her waist.

"Yumire you don't understand, I can't be feeling all this".

His head lowered as he stared woefully at the hard oak wood floor. "Do you feel anything for me?" he slowly asked her.

"I do but I don't want it to grow on me. Please, you need to understand that I am not in the position to dwell on a relationship or anything of that sort for now. I need some time to resolve my own issues before I begin to ponder on those lines. Yes, I thoroughly enjoy your touch and the time we made love, but I cannot act on these feelings because I am certainly sure they won't last very long".

Her head too lowered to stare at the floor as he slowly withdrew his hands from her. He simply lifted her hand and kissed it, "I understand. Just know that I feel deeply for you and no matter what you choose my heart will continue to seek your affection".

He turned towards the door as she turned her back towards him, tears building up in her eyes as she quickly brushed them away. As the door closed behind him, her cheeks were now soaked as her eyes gazed at the roses that stood in a bunch.

After a few moments, she moved to her fridge grabbing some frozen pizza and unwrapping it. She placed it in the microwave as all her intentions of making herself lunch were out the window. She grabbed herself a glass of water from the tap and took her usual medication as the microwave buzzed. She placed the huge slice on a plate and grabbed a soda from the chiller walking into her bedroom, switching the television on. A few minutes passed as she had already gulped the soda down and the pizza before she picked her plate and moved towards the kitchen again, just before the doorbell rang. Again.

Her mouth turned into an unpleasant frown, she usually did not appreciate so many visitors in a day and had a strange feeling it was going to be one of her friends. Most probably Ino just checking up on her. As she dumped her plate in the sink and washed her hands, she walked towards the door drying her hands with the trouser. Swinging the door open, the sight before her leaving her immobilized.

A raven haired man, with an onyx right eye and a rinnegan in his left eye, greeted her presence. His pale skin reflecting sharply against the light. He wore a short single shouldered vest on top of his long sleeved black pull over. A small Uchiha crest embedded into the vest as he adorned black pants and black sandals. His left sleeve flapping to the side revealing the lack of an arm.

Her mouth opened as she gasped, taking in the image before her. Her soft pink pair loose from her encounter with Yumire, caused strands to crowd her face as the wind filled her living room. She gently pushed the grill open as he walked in not wanting her approval. She simply moved aside. Her eyes never once leaving her gaze, onyx and purple eyes almost boring into emerald ones.

They stood in silence before Sasuke spoke, "I am back Sakura".

"Welcome home, Sasuke".

Her breathing hitched as he inched closer, his eyes drilling into her every feature as he took in her luscious and full lips, celestial shaped nose, jade eyes and smooth skin. His hand lifted to brush the loose strands of pink hair aside as he tucked them behind her ear not breaking eye contact. His face only inches away from hers. He certainly knew how to make a girl weak in the knees but not literally, because that was the next thing she did. She fell to her knees before Sasuke could scoop her in his arms losing consciousness.

She woke up to a dimly lit bedroom as her eyes gave way to the light that entered through the window. She was tucked in her bed with the covers over her and no presence of anyone around. She pulled herself up and examined her surroundings. Sasuke was nowhere. She was utterly perplexed. Had she dreamed his presence? Or had he really been there? She was completely at a loss for words as she stared at the blank wall in front of her before remembering of her meeting with Kakashi. Looking up at the clock, it showed 8:20 PM, she decided to make herself some dinner and catch a movie before hitting the bed again.

The morning light filled her bedroom as she curled and stretched across the queen size bed in nothing but a slip that reached her thighs. She walked into the bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror.

Sakura Haruno felt good.

She felt really good.

Infact she felt almost too good to believe herself.

Her hands slipped into her panties this time flicking her clit before her other hand grabbed one of her breasts squeezing it, as her fingers penetrated her thrusting in and out of her pussy. Minutes later she was gasping for air as she hit the pinnacle of her arousal by achieving a breathtaking orgasm, almost one too good to be true.

She smiled at herself in elation as she skipped into the shower. After a quick bath, she moved to her closet pulling out the uniform she now wore for missions. For some strange reason, she had an intuition Kakashi wasn't just calling her to chit chat, and well she'd been meaning to wear this one for quite a while now as it had just laid there in her cupboard ever since she got it custom made from about six months ago.

The uniform constituted of a sleeveless black vest that was cropped at the waist and had horizontal suspenders to cinch the waist so that it didn't ride up during battle, red low waist baggy pants that had slits along the outseams, a pair of mesh leggings that were high waisted and a pair of long sleeved gloves that reached just inches below her shoulder.

She got into her attire sans the gloves, combing her hair and tying her headband. She placed the gloves on the counter of the kitchen before tossing bread into the toaster and switching on the coffee machine. Grabbing the newspaper from her doorstep, she quickly read the headlines.

'14 killed in mass bombing in village of Gechiko as anarchist groups edge closer to Land of Fire border'

She held the coffee mug and sipped before pulling the toast out, placing the newspaper on the slab in the center and reading the entire article before turning to the clock that showed 9 AM. She finished her breakfast and pulled her gloves on before grabbing her medication and swallowing it down as she made her way out.

She headed towards Naruto's apartment skimming through the hoard of people. Upon reaching she knocked, as he appeared before her a minute later. Almost ready, he asked her to come in as she waved at an almost half asleep Hinata who offered her tea to which she refused. Naruto zipped her black shirt up before adorning his headband and directing Sakura out as they headed towards the Hokage's tower.

Knocking on the Hokage's door, they heard a faint voice that asked them to come in. Upon opening, Naruto quickly walked through as Sakura followed and saw Kakashi gazing out of the glass behind him. Her gaze quickly shifted to the man standing before him to the right, he was clad in a dark clothing and gray one-shouldered vest that was short as he returned her gaze.

She quickly regained her composure as she stepped beside Naruto waiting for Kakashi to break the silence.

"How are you doing Sakura?" he inquired.

"Quite alright,"

"Will you be able to clear the Psych Eval then?" he asked in a positive tone.

"I believe I will".

"Well then, I'll let you in on what I have already briefed Sasuke about," he said.

"If you clear the examination, you are to join Naruto and Sasuke on a short term mission, is that alright with you?" he added.

"Yes, Lord Hokage," she replied, a rather perplexed expression arose on her face, "What kind of mission though?" she finished.

"Read the mission report for yourself".

He handed her a gray file that contained the details of the mission. Her eyes scanned the details as they read-  
Mission type: Long range reconnaissance  
Minimum members: Three  
Mission members: H. Sakura, U. Sasuke, U. Naruto.  
Term: Short  
Description: Advance toward Land of Rivers and gain intel on the terrorist groups that travel further southwest into the Land of Fire border. Scout and explore their intentions and what they wish to achieve. Report back before they infiltrate into the border.

She snapped the file shut as she looked sideways at Naruto before handing him the file, "I will take your leave then". She only gave Sasuke a glance before leaving the room.

Turning on her heel and heading towards the hospital to face that Psych Eval she had said she'd clear.

 _ **How did you like this chapter you guys? Oh my god, I have slogging my fingers typing this out at Starbucks since the past two hours haha. I hope you find this interesting as I will be posting the next chapter later today. Review and follow!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you the fav/follow, this chapter came out later than I had planned. I was busy working on my music haha, YES I make music. Do review/fav/follow and share this story if you like it. I would really appreciate critical analysis if someone is willing. The SS in this story is about to get strong. Oh and aren't ya'll psyched about GOTS7? OMG I am dying!**

Fingers impatiently hit the wooden surface of the table in front of her as Sakura slid her legs uncomfortably from left to right awaiting her's consultant's response. He glared at the clipboard in front of him as she managed to mumble something in hushed tones as he began pondering over some detail. Her eye's turned into thin slits as she nervously edged from her chair onto the desk and slumped against the table peeping into the papers he was reading. He suddenly planked the board down, "Sakura-san, you have done quite well," Sakura immediately yanked back to her position to conceal her nervousness and gave him a timid smile before he continued.

"You have done quite well," he repeated, "Your results I will calculate in a bit but I must say this is quite the improvement from the time you were in therapy, eh". He often seemed to disparage her uneasiness as a symptom of her condition but only now realized it was just a characteristic of her personality.

"Now, I think I'll make a call to the Hokage's office and leave him a message, you should get back to your routine and work soon now, Sakura-san" he added before picking the receiver of the phone to his right and dialing some digits.

Sakura simply got up from her chair and stepped out of his office closing the door behind her, pushing herself against it heaving a sigh of relief. She had finally passed the Psych Evaluation and didn't have to worry about ever facing another episode again. Suddenly the door behind her jerked open and she flung backward before bracing herself as the consultant spoke, "Sakura-san, the Hokage left a word. He said you are to commence your hospital duties only after you come back from your mission. Oh and he also said, you leave tomorrow,"

"Tomorrow?"

"For your mission that is".

"Oh," she lowered her eyes, "Thank you so much, Takaze-san".

She instantly walked into the corridors with a smile plastered to her face as various medics, nurses and orderlies wished her, some inquiring about her absence while some asked about when she would get back. After spending numerous minutes in small talk she receded into her office forgetting quite abashedly the person who'd be sitting inside rather than the empty room she'd thought she'd have faced. As she flung the door open, a woman with red hair and hazel eyes met her gaze throwing a stoic expression before crinkling her eyebrows in both confusion and annoyance as she got up from her chair.

Sakura stood there a little befuddled as she let a sigh out, "Koshima, I didn't think you'd be here. I was just, making some rounds. Nothing too big," she paused as she noticed the annoyance in Koshima's face rise, "So how have things been here? I hope I hadn't left things in a heap and made it difficult for you to cope now did I?" she gave a clumsy smile.

Koshima stood there gawking at the Pinkett with thick aggravation as she walked around the table towards the door, "Is there something you need, Sakura?" before stopping almost halfway between her and Sakura.

"Umm, no I was ju-just, umm. Nevermind, I should get going," she turned around to leave.

"Are you planning to return back to your old position now? Is that why you are here? To ascertain your authority?" Koshima spoke in a discourteous manner.

"Koshima, why would I undermine your efforts and come here to ascertain my authority? What are you crazy? We aren't twelve years old. I just came here to talk with Sasha but I suppose you moved her to some other department and got your own secretary and didn't realize you'd be here. That's all" Sakura calmly replied, without facing the irate red head.

"Well then, if you aren't here to ask me anything, I'd suggest you leave," she sternly replied.

Sakura smiled, "And yeah don't get too comfortable in my office I'll be coming back in a matter of a few days". With that, she walked out into the lobby smiling even more intemperately as Koshima glared, her hazel eyes boring a hole into her back as the doors flung a few times before closing.

Reaching home, Sakura threw her sandals off, drawing at the seams of her mesh leggings trying to make it less uncomfortable, as she raised the seam she noticed the bright red rash she had developed due to wearing it. She quickly got out of her clothes as she sprinted into her bedroom throwing clothes willy-nilly across the way. Grabbing a proper changing of clothes she made her way into the kitchen forgetting about her clothes lay scattered as she brewed herself some tea, picking up her medicine box. She yanked a tiny door open below the sink to reveal a garbage bin as she emptied the contents of the box. She raised, heaving a long sigh of relief and sat a few minutes later on the island counter sipping her tea, reading through some pamphlets as the door bell rang.

Her brows furrowed as she imagined who it could be. It was well past afternoon, almost evening time. She thought maybe Ino, as she made her way towards the door unlocking it. Her eyes widened at her visitor, as she had a deja vu moment. Staring at him for a few more moments before opening the grill, he walked in uninvited before turning around as they both stared at each other a little more. This time she did not plan on losing herself to fainting as she steadied herself and stood there demurely.

"Sakura," Sasuke finally spoke.

Her eyes raised to look at him again, her gaze transfixed to his Rinnegan and onyx eye as she broke the eye contact before looking at the floor again.

"I didn't want to be asking you again but I wouldn't know anyone else who would heal and I didn't wish to go to the hospital due to all the questions I'd be asked, so I, uh, came here" he finished as his face lowered to look at hers in expectation.

"What are you talking about? Are you hurt or something?" she realized what he meant as her expression now became more concerned.

"Not exactly hurt, I just grazed the, uh, bad arm a week ago and have felt the stump become very itchy, it couldn't be infection now could it?" he said worryingly.

She motioned him to the couch behind them as he took a seat, turning towards her as she sat in front of him. She inched closer as he pulled his sleeve up off his left arm. She examined the flesh wound closely for a few moments before touching it almost poking, "Does it hurt?" she asked.

"Not really," he replied.

She got up from her seat and went into her office before returning back with a few medical supplies. She began to treat the wound and scrape of the infected flesh, cleaning it up before bandaging the arm securely. All while Sasuke watched her raptly, functioning with such calm composure and knowing just what to do.

"Sasuke! Sasuke?" a hand waved in front of Sasuke's eyes before her collected his thoughts.

"Yeah?" he replied in a gentle tone.

"It's done. All good, nothing to worry about. There wasn't any major infection," Sakura muttered.

"Oh," he felt a little groggy, "Thank you Sakura".

Sakura gave him a nod as she got up from the couch taking all her belongings with her as she made her way towards the office as she asked him, "Would you like some tea?"

Sasuke looked at the floor and then towards her departing figure, "Sure".

She came out of the room heading into the kitchen motioning him to sit at the counter as she brewed them some tea. She walked towards the counter to fix the mess she had made, "These from your lover?" Sasuke inquired, his eyes were glued to the bunch of white roses that sat at the counter with Yumire's 'come-back-soon-i-miss-you' note in them; something Sakura has forgotten to take off, only because she didn't feel the need to.

Sakura's eyes instantly latched onto the beautiful bunch before letting out a gasp as she slowly walked towards the counter, watching Sasuke's penetrating gaze reading the note placed in the flowers before his gaze whipped towards Sakura.

"They were from a friend," she said in a small voice, her voice almost inaudible.

He simply stared into her jade eyes, sensing the hesitation as his thoughts finally held onto the wave in her tone.

"Hn. Bullshit".

Her brows immediately crinkled and her eyes turned tempestuous. "Excuse me?" she demanded.

He lifted off his seat and pushed himself off the counter walking out of the house through the door into the streets as a very enraged Sakura stood in the kitchen watching him walk away. She blinked and rolled her eyes as the teapot whistled before she simmered it.

Sasuke was halfway from Sakura's apartment now as he walked the streets with his hands resting in his pockets as he gazed at the dirt beneath. His thoughts were vague yet he felt bothered from his confrontation with Sakura; half of him agreed about how he reacted to her response and half of him wanted to throw his grey cells out of his brain. He simply kept walking before reaching a clothing store as he had wanted to buy himself some proper clothes realizing his old ones were all tattered or just worn now.

He spent a while at the store before paying at the cash counter and inquired about a package as the man behind the counter searched in the stock before placing a brown paper bag on the desk. Sasuke checked inside it before pushing everything into a larger paper bag and walking out. He stood at the entrance of the shop, wondering what to do next as thoughts of Sakura kept emerging. He started walking towards the ANBU quarters, where he had been provided a temporary room where he now lived. He was given the room although he had already wanted to make arrangements; his new apartment had not yet been fully complete due to some construction issues which is why he stayed here now.

As he walked, a voice caught him in his step.

"Sasuke is that you?"

He turned around to see Ino standing before him wearing a purple crop top and purple divided skirt. He returned her gaze without responding. "Wow, not a big fan of words now are we?" she incessantly continued.

His brows twitched as he held onto the bag now turning around, "Nice to see you too" he replied with a hint of humor and walked away.

Ino stood there for a while before deciding to visit Sakura inquiring all the details about Sasuke's return in sheer excitement. As she reached the apartment pressing the doorbell a couple of times, she imagined if Sakura even knew if Sasuke was back. A pestered Sakura opened the door, before flashing a straight face and holding it open for Ino to walk inside.

"Who wrecked your happiness?" Ino inquired.

"Does anybody have to for it to be wrecked?" Sakura replied sarcastically.

Ino smirked as she made her way into the kitchen, gawking at the utensils and then at Sakura. "You haven't eaten anything?"

"I was going to order take out, but I don't know. Maybe I'll just make some scrambled eggs or something".

"TAKE OUT IT IS!" as Ino grabbed a pamphlet from the stack on the countertop and dialed digits into the cordless phone.

After a few minutes of Ino's yapping, she tucked the phone away before gawking at the fragrant flowers that seemed to fill half the space of the counter. She looked at Sakura and flashed her a tell-me-what-this-is-all-about smile, Sakura simply flashed her a go-to-hell-this-is-none-of-you-business look before turning towards her bedroom.

Ino followed her in crashing into the throw of pillows that lay on Sakura's bed before turning towards here in waiting for a response. Sakura ignored her and turned the TV on, shuffling through the channels before Ino slumped onto Sakura's shoulders with her incessant gaze. Only after a few minutes did Sakura's conscience budge as she gave in.

"They are from a friend".

"Yeah right," Ino smirked.

"Come tell me already, are they from SASUKE-KUN?" Ino asked in an upbeat tone.

"Wh-what? Why would they be from Sasuke? Why would you even get that idea?"

"I just saw him on the street a while back, so I figured it could be from him. What is so wrong about that?" she answered sardonically.

"He would never get me flowers, huh".

"So who are they from?"

"I told you, a friend".

"Bullshit," was all Ino said as she snatched the remote from Sakura's hand missing the fierce gaze that Sakura was giving her.

The doorbell rang again as Sakura got up to see who it was, probably guessing that it was the delivery guy. As she opened the door, a blonde guy in a black shirt and orange pants welcomed her.

"Ino! Did you order us a Naruto for take out?" Sakura barked turning her face around as she yanked the grill open for him to come in.

Naruto looked confused as Ino walked into the living room staring at him. "No, I didn't," she replied. Naruto returned her gaze even more disoriented. Suddenly a knock on the door brought every body else's attention back as Sakura opened the door wider to see the delivery guy standing. Ino paid the guy as Sakura brought a pack of boxes and bowls to the kitchen slab.

As Naruto moved with them, "So what are you here for Naruto?" Sakura inquired.

"I better hope it's not our food!" Ino yapped.

"As much as I'd like that, no, I just came to tell you that we leave tomorrow Sakura-chan. It might be a week long so pack accordingly".

"You could have just called," Sakura replied as she gave him an unconvincing expression as Ino grabbed some plates and started serving.

"Uh, I just well, I wanted to talk to you about other things too but it's okay. We'll talk later".

"Oh come on now you big groggy idiot. Get over here, we aren't going to eat this all by ourselves. You can also pretend I am not here and talk all you want to Sakura. I won't spill, it's not like I am some scuttlebutt hearing onto every body's business," Ino responded to Naruto's clumsy response.

Naruto shook his head as he timidly walked towards them, Ino grabbed another plate and they walked into Sakura's bedroom seating themselves at the couch and table before them shuffling through channels. Slowly the room filled with giggles and gossips as they ate and watched infomercials.

A few hours of chatter later, a tittering Naruto and Ino rushed out of Sakura's apartment as they headed their own ways with Sakura shutting the door behind them. She settled onto the sofa, realizing what a lovely day it had been and then suddenly remembered the one thing that hadn't gone right.

She imagined if Sasuke was excited to go on a mission again with his old team mates. She realized the old Team 7 was back and they were about to start their new mission after such a long time right in about a few hours. "Almost tomorrow," she whispered to herself. Rising from her seat and striding into the bedroom, she opened a small drawer in the bottom shelf of her cupboard gazing at the one thing contained in it.

A picture of Team 7.

 **Hope you liked this chapter, I suppose it's safe to say that this story will stretch out by next week or so. Don't forget to review and favourite/follow this story. I am thinking about starting work on my other SS story as well but will not release it until August. Stay tuned!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hi everybody, sorry about the slower updates. Thank you for following this story, I do suggest you review this and favorite this story. I would really be grateful is someone could add this to an appropriate community so that more readers get to enjoy the story.**

Naruto wound his bag around his shoulder, stepping out of the door waving back at Hinata and made his way towards the gates. It was almost 7 AM and they had wanted an early start so that they could reach their destination by tomorrow morning and devise their strategies by the night.

Just as he left a few streets he saw a dazed and slightly weary Sasuke make his way toward him. Naruto waved at him but he simply kept walking. They both walked in silence as they awaited their other partner once they had reached the gates. Naruto slammed a permit on the desk as a shinobi standing next to Kotetsu looked over it before stamping a 'granted' seal. Sakura appeared a few minutes later with a black bag hitched on her back as she gazed towards them.

She walked up to them as Naruto gave a nod and they started to move out of the gates. Suddenly Sakura's eyes lowered to the ground as she saw she had just stepped on a spider. Her gaze went cold as she recalled a nasty omen attached to this act. Just as Naruto beckoned to her she simply closed her eyes in prayer hoping for a smooth journey and walked towards them. After a few minutes of walking, they started to climb into the trees and glide through them, sprinting on the branches bracing their stance.

An hour passed away without any of them budging or feeling weary from the constant gliding. They had probably reached far out of the borders of the village by now, probably a couple hundred kilometers out.

"I think we should stop for breakfast now," Naruto's voice broke the silence.

Sasuke nodded in a moment as they both descended and Sakura followed suit although she still felt that they should have continued for another hour before stopping for a meal. Just as she opened her mouth to voice her opinion, the trees stirred briskly and branches rustled in the thick breeze as her dust sated her now narrowed eyelids as she raised her hands to cover them. They walked some distance before took they cover in the outdoors of a tea house as the breeze snapped and became stronger. Naruto whirled the door open and all three of them hurried inside as they absorbed the surroundings of this new place.

Sakura rubbed her eyes like a child whisking dirt out of them and Sasuke stood in front of her while Naruto gazed around looking for the caretaker. A middle aged woman walked out of a room through the drapes and gestured them to take a seat. They picked a booth and sat down as Naruto asked her to get them some hot tea and sweet buns first.

After a few minutes of decisive thinking, all three of them ordered. Sasuke asked for a plate of grilled tomatoes and salad with more tea, Sakura opted for a plate of Okonomiyaki. Naruto pondered for a while before ordering the same with a side of boiled eggs. They sat there gazing out of the windows as the trees continued to shake with the wind. "Well that was close, our timing with this," Naruto broke the silence.

"I was actually going to suggest we traveled another hour further out before stopping just as the wind picked up" Sakura replied.

Sasuke's face turned to her's, "Good you didn't get to say it," he smirked before adding, "Or Naruto would have been carrying you across the forest fighting the wind yelling, 'Hold on Sakura-chan, we are almost there' in his prepubescent voice". Naruto immediately tossed a spoon at Sasuke's face which he caught before it could make an impact as Sakura burst in laughter.

They sat in an exchanged silence reminiscing their days as a team together when they were only genin's. Sakura gave Sasuke a brief smile before turning to Naruto, "You remember the time you absolutely failed at climbing that tree, hahaha," she giggled as Sasuke's eyes lowered to the table remembering his own utter failure at the task their sensei had once asked them to accomplish.

"Oh come on now Sakura-chan, not that. You picked the one moment I failed. How about all the other times I was epic and beat the bad guys, huh?" Naruto wailed almost in pride.

"You mean like the time you got mauled by a cat AND an ostrich?" she added.

Naruto's shoulders slouched as he let out a heavy sigh and his face showed every sign of humiliation glancing over at Sasuke who merely smirked at Sakura's statement. The lady who took their order appeared with their food and began to place it on the table as Naruto chafed his palms together in anticipation to taste his meal.

Sakura pushed his plate towards him and passed Sasuke's bowl of salad and grilled tomatoes toward him. All three of them munched away in peace as time passed away in a jiffy. Paying up and walking toward the entrance, the middle aged woman beckoned to them, "I would advise that if you were traveling upward east, the weather is only going to get worse from here on. You should sit this one out for the day and plan on going tomorrow if you are heading east that is".

Naruto waved in denial at her and thanked her for her advice and the food before the trio walked out into the forest. After a few meters of walking, they stopped below the shade of a tree while Sasuke pulled out a map and laid it out for them to see. Sakura kneeled beside him to scrutinize the map while Naruto popped his water bottle open as he sipped it rapidly.

"The border will be 400 kilometers from where we are now, which is here," Sasuke pointed his finger at a spot that was just a centimeter away from a river which Sakura could interpret, "We will soon touch the banks of River Yomura in a few hours or so and we shall head north east from there after discussing on a few strategies. It shall serve as a good spot to rest and then restart our journey".

Sakura nodded in agreement as Naruto stood in the shade of the tree leaning against it. Sasuke snapped,"Are you even paying attention?" Naruto raised his eyes toward him and gave a smug, "Of course I am you big loser. I heard what you said; we reach river Yomura in a few hours and rest, what's the big deal in that?"

"No, you stupid goof-head we are to spend out time strategising not RESTING!" Sasuke shouted. Naruto's smug turned to a scowl as he adjusted his bag around his shoulders before stepping out of the shade. Sakura followed suit as Sasuke rolled the map and stuck it into the pocket of his pouch. They headed out into the now sunlit skies gliding through trees, heading far out north into the landscape without uttering a word to each other.

Sakura felt an overpowering need to break the silence with even an insignificant sentence but hesitated to, since she had no idea how the other two would react. But the awkward silence between them was beginning to bother her. Just as she conjured up the will to say something about the heat, Naruto spoke, "Hey! I was thinking, we should head on down to one of those inn's by the town near Jugyuki by the tourist hotspot where all the Hotsprings are. It would be a great idea if we rest there for the night and we'd even get some great relaxation time at the famous hot springs, dontcha think?" he smiled gleefully before getting struck on the head by something Sasuke held out.

Naruto gave him a severe scowl after they interpreted the obvious refusal to his suggestion as they kept gliding while Sakura sighed in relief realizing how stupid she would have sounded herself if she had wanted to begin a conversation.

After several minutes of this, Sasuke who was preoccupied in thought spoke, "Did any of you guys decide to read through the brief on what our enemies are supposed to look or be identified by? Their traits, defenses or camp layouts?"

Utter silence followed as Sakura felt mortified by his demanding question realizing she had absolutely no clue what he was talking about.

"How unlike you Sakura. I mean I get why Naruto wouldn't even know a thing but whatever happened to you?" Sasuke questioned her now sounding foiled.

"Umm I, ugh, didn't really know about the brief. Really," Sakura began to explain.

"I was going to let you know about that at your house yesterday," Sasuke voice trailed off as his mind immediately drifted to what had happened at her house when he had simply stormed away.

"Before you left, unexpectedly?" Sakura finished.

"Yeah. Well so we don't have a choice, I guess I'll have to just guide you through it when we get to Yomura in a while".

Seconds became minutes and minutes became hours as the trio seemed unfazed as they skid through the forest effortlessly, racing quite the distance before seeing the sight of the river. Naruto pointed at its direction as the three slightly descended to reach its way and stop for a break. It had been close to three hours worth of running. Sakura kneeled to fill her canteen with water from the river as Naruto did the same in a while. Sasuke passed his canteen to Sakura's which she continued to fill as he laid the map out and pulled out a piece of paper.

"Are we really doing this already? I mean didn't we just get here? Shouldn't we rest first before you begin your lecture?" Naruto's tone edged on annoyance as he moved towards Sasuke.

"We need to waste as little time as possible you idiot," he replied while scribbling on the paper, "And as per plan we are on schedule so how about we keep that up and not slack like your ass would have if you ever had a head a mission of your own".

Naruto scowled at Sasuke and inched closer almost throwing his hands out to pull at Sasuke's collar before Sakura stopped him, "Stop it! We need to focus. Sasuke's right we should discuss what we need to do next".

It seemed very nostalgic of Sakura agreeing with Sasuke, but she sounded very level-headed. Unlike the Sakura before, this one has absolutely no interest in agreeing with him only for the hopes of gaining his affection. Naruto turned toward her before they both sat in front of Sasuke as he tugged at his navy blue shirt, freeing him of a few buttons as he felt the breeze on the skin of his chest.

"So this is where we hit our first target. The ANBU prepared a detailed roster on the group we are scoping out. The whole point of this mission as each one of us know's is to NOT infiltrate but to gather intel, which is basically a passive form of infiltration without the real action. We need to know what their plans are, what their formations or layouts look like, what kind of defenses they hold and what kind of skills they possess," Sasuke began his briefing as the other two gazed at him intently.

"From here on out, I am all ears to any kinds of strategies we can come up with to meet all these demands and understand the workings of this group," he paused, Sakura edged closer to the map, pointing at the place where they would converge with the terrorists, "What is it Sakura?"

"I have a plan, but it might sound bizarre".

"What about it?"

Naruto bent closer to her to hear her, "What if I become a decoy?"

Naruto's head whirled to Sasuke's as they both exchanged glances before looking at Sakura, "What do you mean decoy?" NAruto asked.

"I could pose as a traveler, lost, or any other fib like that and get them to help me out. While I scout their resources and get a mental map of their camp layout or even their formations," Sakura exclaimed. She edged away from the map, motioning her hands, "We can't just sit camouflaged expecting to gain any information about these people, we have to expend the resources".

Sasuke's arm raised to his chin as he stroked it, propelling into deep thought. Naruto merely gave a harsh smirk before dwelling on the idea himself as his hands sprawled out in the grass gazing at the clouds.

"I think we can always put that into consideration along with anything else we come up with," Sasuke spoke, "Now here, this is a list of names I want you both to memorize. The arrows show their skills and specialties and I'll quiz you about them in a bit. Once we get moving matched I'd have expected you both to have memorized them well, because then I'll begin describing their appearances to you".

Sasuke passed the piece of paper he had written on, as Sakura and Naruto stared onto the contents and began mumbling to etch the names and keywords into memory.

Their break that had gone well into half an hour sending them departing onto their journey again as Sasuke began testing their memory with his questions. Several minutes passed as they finished their little quiz before he started explaining to them which one looked how. All the intel ANBU had gathered on these terrorists was quite efficient, although they never could help with gathering anything more than that due to their lack of tactics to lure anything out at that moment which is why Kakashi deployed this team to scoop anything out before the anarchist group began their toll on the Land of Fire.

The afternoon passed the away quickly as they halted to catch their breaths, gathering some firewood, Sakura lit a fire pulling a small pan out of her belongings as she gathered some ingredients and began preparing them a soup. Naruto caught a large trout, dragging it behind him as Sasuke watched them sitting beneath the shade of a tree.

After a few moments, he got up and began scouting the area of strays and intruders, wiring a couple of traps to alarm them before resting beside the fireplace. Sakura poured the soup into bowls. Naruto tossed his fish on the makeshift grill as small flares emerged. Sasuke continued to toss it for him while sipping on his soup and there was a pin-drop silence between them.

They began to break meat and munch on the succulent fish when Sakura complimented the catch. Naruto simply smiled and kept eating. A small rustle behind them caught their attention but none of them moved, as their eyes met each other briefly before splitting and lowering onto the fire. The fire must have caught someone's attention, but didn't Sasuke's trap supposed to alarm them? The enemy was definitely a proficient one, skilled at best. Could be alone or could in a team of three just like them.

The rustle stopped after a second before the three vanished into the trees picking their spot to hide and staring at the bonfire waiting for movement. Sasuke's eyes shot at the vision of a brooding man to had drawn out a katana in the direction of the fire awaiting the group to attack him. He interpreted how silly this move was and quickly realized that it could be a trap to draw them out. He motioned a 'hold' sign as the other two held their positions. Continuing to read anything out of the blue, his eyes wandered into the distance to discover if any other intruders were nearby. He activated his Rinnegan to scope to the area out. Although the Rinnegan doesn't function like the Byakugan, it detects the presence of body heat and even multidimensional presence and objects to draw them out. His eyes hovered and stopped particularly at nothing except for the fact that his traps were still in place. He immediately signaled to the other two an 'in position' sign before striking a wire he had placed with his kunai, unraveling the wires he had fixed with paper bombs and kunai's meant to strike the intruder and embroiled the man toward the fire catching him in the web as he gasped hanging, all kunai's pointed at him before Naruto pranced down followed by Sakura.

They stood before the man, he wore dark colored clothing, had deep viridian hair and sea green eyes that almost matched Sakura, he constantly yanked his arms to jerk them free of the wires in absolute failure. Naruto and Sakura stood side by side analyzing the man's clothing and appearance and checking if he matched the description of any of the people they were reading up about. Sakura's eye immediately locked onto the yellow band across his left bicep, two S's snaking around each other marked onto it in black. He caught her stare and his eyes locked onto hers as she looked at him again. Sasuke descended from his position beside Sakura now once he had finished scouting the area for any other intruders and instantly yanked her behind him, protectively.

"What?" she exclaimed in confusion.

"He-he's one of them Sakura," he replied stunned enough to not look into her eyes as his gaze was transfixed to the man in front of them.

"What do you mean? How?"

"The band on his arm, that symbol was reported by several unconnected sources as a representation of their group,"

Sakura's gaze turned back to the man's arm where the band was fastened, Naruto inched close to his teammates, "What are you guys whispering about?"

Sakura explained to him in hushed tones as Sasuke stepped close to the man, taking in his form and appearance.

"You fended off my traps and came here, to us. Why?" he asked demandingly.

The man stood there held by several wires, his muscles slowly tensing up to the uncomfortable position, unhindered by their presence yet his expression was fearsome.

"Huh, my men will be here in no time. You should let go of me if you don't want to get killed, Konoha shinobi," he spoke in a vindictive manner.

Sasuke's Sharingan activated, three tomoe spinning rapidly as they absorbed into the conscience of the man filtering through his memories to seek the truth in his apparent statement. He closed his eyes and sighed before speaking, "You are lying. You were sent here to find someone, a medic, in the nearby village. You are to bring them with you and the medic is only known by name and not appearance which is why you weren't able to find them that easily, isn't that so?"

The captive raised his face to meet Sasuke's, his brows twitched in curiosity as to how he could analyze so easily the truth behind his words and identified the Sharingan in a few seconds of its appearance. His shoulders shuddered in dreadfully recalling the powers of the eyes, intently staring back into Sasuke's eyes.

"You are wondering what my organization is all about isn't it?"  
the man spoke in a rather more subdued tone this time.

"We are called the Second Sanctum".

The trio stood dazed as their captive spoke, their head bobbing left to right looking at each other in wonder.

"That's right, the Second Sanctum, because we killed the first," he merely added.

"Wh-why was that?" Sakura inquired.

"Because we had disagreements, and you can't be a team if you don't agree with each other now can you?" the captive marking his question with a smirk.

His gaze met Sakura's as Viridian eyes locked into an endless twinning stare. Sasuke's arm snaking onto her's as he sensed a certain discomfort in the way the man stared at her. Naruto stood there in his dazed stupor.

"And something tells me, you aren't just here to mingle with the folk or drink and merry your while away. You are here to either infiltrate us or something else. Let me guess a three man squad won't be enough to infiltrate us, but it would be enough to gather information now wouldn't it?" he spoke grimly.

After a rather long silence, Sasuke looked onto his teammates anticipating their response in prevision. None of them knew what to do now; either interrogate the captive and gather everything on the Second Sanctum or get confronted by his teammates who will soon come looking for him.

The trio stood confounded in their new problem.

 **There you have it Chapter 9, I know this was truly long but I hope you liked this. Do expect this to go into the same pace; I will only be posting one chapter every day now but I am also working on my other story coming out next week or this weekend. Stay tuned everyone, and do favorite/review!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hey everyone, I am back again with this new chapter and more frequent updates. So like I said one chapter every day. This one is early because I wanted to make up for being so sloppy. Don't forget to review/fav.**

It had been quite some time now since their captive had been confined to a tree and held onto by wires tied to a series of traps and alarms if he were to struggle out of him.

The trio stood under another tree contriving ways to make the best of the situation because they feared the involvement of the rest of the 'Second Sanctum' and being confronted by them due to their encounter with their teammate.

It only dawned upon Sasuke minutes later the idea Sakura had suggested before but only this time it was designed well to fit into their strategy. Although he was initially skeptical to agree with the idea, he was more worried about how close quarters Sakura would be with the enemy endangering herself if she were to get caught. His body trembled convulsively at the thought. Instantly Sakura's hand rested on his shoulder holding him still and appeasing his stress. Their eyes met in an enduring gaze while Naruto cleared his throat to get back their attention to what their plan of action should be since wasting time away would only result in the terrorist group to begin suspecting foul play and sending men out for their teammate.

Sasuke's arm jerked, placing it only the hilt of his Kusanagi, drawing it out slowly, it's sheath lay placid around his waist as he drove forward aiming it at the captive as Sakura leaped behind him.

"Tell us what you know about this, Second Sanctum?" he demanded of the man who was tied to the tree. Blood trickled from his crown and lips, from the beating Naruto gave him while Sasuke tied him down. The neckline of his shirt drenched with the blood that collected at his collarbone and he coughed several times spitting blood a few inches away from Sasuke, who stood aiming his sword at the captive's throat.

Sakura held onto Sasuke's arm stopping him from doing anything unprompted, his eyes drew toward her scanning them and realizing how alarmed she was. Naruto stood a few feet away from them not realizing the purpose of Sasuke's actions but continued to stay there knowing very well that this would be the only resolve before any body jumped them into combat.

Sakura knelt before the captive, brushed the blood off his skin using a small towel and pressed it against his crown, applying chakra to his forehead with her free hand while Sasuke stood awaiting a response. He realized it would be best if he played the interrogator and Sakura played the pacifist. A psychology bound to breach the man's conscience.

The captive sighed, as his breathing quivered relentlessly while the pain in his crown subsided. His gaze now transfixed to Sakura's who was focusing on healing him while wiping away as much blood as possible. She turned to face his eyes as they made eye contact only for a brief second, "I think I asked you a question, what is it that you know about the Second Sanctum?" he asked more crudely.

"En-enough to cripple the-their defenses," he replied spurting out more blood, which Sakura wiped as she turned her head to face Sasuke with a concerned expression.

"And you shall reveal them to us?" Sasuke exacted on his demand.

"Not unless I get what I want," the man spoke more clearly now. Sakura finished bandaging his wound and pressed his head onto the towel she had wrapped to support his neck and head and he lay there with more ease.

"What is it that you want then?"

"Asylum in the Land of Fire and a pardon for all my crimes with protection, in exchange for all the information I hold".

"Hmph, I'd have figured," Sasuke's responded quickly.

The trio exchanged glances before deciding it would be better to send word to the village about these developments before taking matters into their own hands. Sasuke summoned a messenger hawk, after scribbling onto a piece of paper and sealing it with a jutsu. He embedded it into the Hawk's carrier case and sent it away.

Naruto stepped forward, kneeling beside the man and searched his belongings, raking his hands across his pockets and checking every fold and inch of his body. Sakura got up and stood beside Sasuke as they exchanged stares, "Do you think he's going to talk before any word comes back?" she asked him.

"He's more than going to just talk. I'll make sure of it," Sasuke replied, looking at her assuringly.

"But do we believe everything he says?" her eyes showed concern.

"That is a problem we'll have to deal with once he spills".

Naruto turned backward pulling out a small textbook and a few weapons from his search and placed it on the grass for his teammates to see while probing the book intently.

"Why were you sent to look for the medic?" Sasuke spoke after glancing over all the weapons he possessed that didn't reveal much except that they were ordinary and their make wasn't anything special. They could belong to any other shinobi.

"Our camp's only medic died in the last siege, so we were to recruit another and so I was sent to look for a specific medic in the village of Yamasaki who is known for her healing abilities and skilled poison making".

Naruto's head titled back, the Yamasaki village was just a few kilometers from where they were and although this incident had caused them to slack on their journey it did give them the upper hand.

"Why do you seek asylum?" Naruto finally broke his silence. Sakura's turned her face to him almost appalled he had managed to ask a reasonable question.

"My family was taken hostage by the First Sanctum so they could force me to serve their purposes on the promises of their release. But my wife was raped and killed and my children forced into labor when the group disbanded and regrouped into the Second Sanctum. I only wish to break free of their detainment and get my kids back once they are put an end to,"

"And you expect us to believe they let you go on an expedition on your own not fearing you'd turn on them?" Sakura intervened.

"They would kill my children if I didn't make it back, they always have that leverage on me".

The trio exchanged glances pondering over his statement actualizing the truth in them. Sakura knelt before the man cutting a couple of wires easing his movement so he could breathe easier. He thanked her. She placed a canteen on his dry lips as he sipped earnestly, in thirst as she watched how fatigued he appeared. Sasuke beckoned her to stop, as she moved the canteen away, closing it and rising on her step to stand beside him.

They let the man rest while the team decided to sit underneath the shade and recuperate right before it occurred to Sakura that they hadn't even thought of asking him his name. She quietly got up and walked to his direction to ask him. Just before she could kneel beside him in excuse to check his wounds before slipping the question, he spoke almost reading her mind, "It's Kametatsu," he tilted his face to look at her jade orbs that widened at his answer.

"How did you-"

"I have a special ability,"

"To what? Read people's minds?" she asked amusingly.

"No, rather their heartbeats".

Sakura's forehead wrinkled as she mulled over his statement.

"So a mere hiccup in my heartbeat told you I wanted to know your name?"

"Not a hiccup, just the increase in its pace. You seemed at peace when you sat beside your teammates and even when you were tending to my wounds. Something struck your mind and your heart raced afterward as you began walking toward me. I figured you were wanting to know my name since none of you bothered to ask me earlier," he explained.

"That is quite an interesting conclusion you made. How does your ability work exactly?" she asked while removing the towel from behind his neck and cleaning it before wiping his face to remove the residual blood that had dried on it.

"Through vibrations and sound. My ears function on an ultrasonic frequency, that's how".

"Interesting-" she was just about to check his bandages when she was yanked upward strongly, "-What are you doing?"

Sasuke pulled her toward him, holding her close to his chest, "Don't sympathize with him. We don't know a thing about them. Not unless he starts talking,"

Sakura's eyes narrowed into slits as she freed her hand, but continued to lean against his chest while he slipped his hand onto her waist pulling her away from the man.

She nudged his grip away, just when they were near Naruto she spoke irritatedly, "What the hell is your problem?"

"I don't want you indulging with him, do you understand?"

"And since when did you start making decisions for us?"

"Since you just proved you aren't capable of keeping your emotions in check,"

"Don't you start that bull shit with me again!"

"Guys! Guys!" Naruto finally decided to intervene although he enjoyed it whenever there was any tension between the two of them.

"What?" Sasuke and Sakura broke into a shout in unison.

"We shouldn't really be fighting at this point of time and instead extract whatever we can out of him," Naruto said pointing at Kametatsu.

"That was exactly what I was doing, and I did get to know his name in just the few seconds I had with him before our tyrannizing teammate here-" she pointed at Sasuke, "-decided to grab me and drag me over here".

Naruto's simpered at her statement looking at Sasuke, realizing his intentions but couldn't really agree with her. This man wasn't their friend, hell he was their enemy. For all they knew he was driving them into a trap which they would seamlessly get played into.

"I'll get started with him, meanwhile you two keep a look out," Sasuke stated.

"Got it!" Naruto responded sprinting into the trees leaving Sakura behind.

"And you, stay away from him before you get yourself killed, alright?" Sasuke looked over to her as obsidian eyes gazed into emerald. Locking into an unsettling stare before Naruto beckoned to her to come join him. Sakura dashed upward disappearing from his view. Sasuke walked toward Kametatsu emitting shrewd expressions taking a seat before him kneeling a leg up and placing a hand over it, his Kusanagi sat beside him and was in view of Kametatsu who jerked backward in alarm.

An hour passed away quickly as Sakura and Naruto scouted their surroundings deeming it safe for them to continue their operation while alternatively looking at their teammate below who was engaged in a persistent examination of their captive. The two were now sitting opposite each other on the branch of a tree a few meters from where Sasuke and Kametatsu were.

"You think he's telling the truth?" Naruto asked.

"That is for Sasuke to decide I suppose,"

"Hm, since when did you agree on that?" Naruto's lips pressed into a reprehensible smirk.

"Since he constantly keeps butting in, I believe he's the one with the magical hat, pulling every rabbit at the right time, dontcha agree?" Sakura's tone bordered on irritated and loony.

"When you say it like that, you make him sound like a hedonistic maniac," he shortly replied.

"How spot on your description of his character was!" Sakura exclaimed in amusement.

There was a short spell of silence between then before Naruto spoke, "He likes to be in control you know. He doesn't like losing reigns on a certain course of action or command. He's always been that way,"

"Well then he might as well hold on to his bloody reigns and race his bloody horses into a minefield if he wishes but I am not enduring his bossiness anymore, you hear me?" she retorted. Naruto restlessly moved around in his seat, unnerved by her response twitching his eyebrows in disdain. Just as he began to speak again, Sasuke's voice broke his intent as he called them right away.

Naruto and Sakura landed on their feet as Sasuke walked over to them, Kametatsu sat still behind him while Sakura's eye strayed onto the view.

"We had quite the interesting conversation there," he spoke.

"What do you mean?" Naruto inquired.

"He agreed to a plan I devised for us to get us in and get him and his kids out of there, meanwhile we gather everything we need and get the hell outta here". Naruto and Sakura exchanged glances, exhilarated by his words.

"So what is it?" Sakura asked him.

"You'll be going with him posing as the medic".

Silence brooded amongst them, eyes hovered while all three stood there deep in thought.

"I knew it'd come down to this," Sakura replied to his statement.

"It's for the best Sakura,"

"I know, I don't disagree. I just feel this will be a lot more difficult than you anticipate,"

"And why is that?"

"You want to help him get him AND his kids out? All the while I collect intel on their forces and layout? The idea is far fetched".

Sasuke did not respond, he only placed his hand on her shoulder while gazing intently at her leaving her a little uneasy. Naruto broke his gaze as his eyes lowered giving his teammates some space.

"I will not let any harm befall you Sakura".

Her eyes suddenly began to glisten as a small tear emerged from her lower lid which was quickly brushed away by him. His thumb rested there as their eyes locked onto each other, before getting interrupted by Naruto who seemed annoyed by his teammates' constant mood swings.

"Can we get back to where we were before you get all mushy, you guys?"

Their stare broke and they both felt an embarrassing blush creep up onto their faces. Sakura redder than Sasuke.

After a few hours of their discussion and thorough planning, Sakura sat alongside Sasuke memorizing the names and keywords he instructed to her while Naruto walked up to Kametatsu cutting open his wires.

He was lifted up slowly while leaning into Naruto's arm and stood up. "So your name's Kametatsu right?"

"Yes"

"Damn, one of the frogs I summon's name is Gamatatsu. He's always complaining about how I don't give him any snacks but well that's just a frog you know," Naruto exclaimed.

The man looked at him peculiarly wondering if he was even sane in his head before leaping in his steps towards where Sasuke and Sakura sat.

"Are we ready yet?" Kametatsu inquired.

"We will depart first thing in the morning after you have regained your strength and Sakura here is completely familiar with your team back there. You can even tell her everything you just told me so that we can be on the same page. From the point of reaching Yamasaki, you both will be on your own. We will follow you keeping our distance to the camp you tell us of and keep a close watch for you two from there on," Sasuke stated the plan.

"Sounds about perfect then" Kametatsu replied before kneeling beside them and taking a seat.

Sakura got up and dusted her pants as she advanced into the woods after excusing herself from the rest. She wanted to breathe freely and feel easier than she did a few minutes ago. She was scared of the task that she was going to be put up to because she hadn't ever partaken in anything like this before. She sat down on a boulder placing her feet in front of her kneeling, rested her head on her knees and holding her body tightly to soothe her tension. She closed her eyes and visualized the calm waterfall beneath which she would stand to let all the water descend on her crashing her into its abyss all the while flaying her arms in tranquility. This was one of the brief psychological visualizations she was asked to picture in cognitive therapy back when she was being treated for her hallucinations.

A sudden touch on her shoulder woke her as she tilted her face to see who it was. Onyx eyes met her trepid emerald ones as he sat beside her lowering his arm onto his lap. She scooted over to give him more space as they sat there in silence. He could sense her tension and felt the immediate need to appease it but felt helpless looking onto her body that shivered indefinitely but gently.

He grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into his chest feeling her daze as she couldn't understand why he did so. It began stiff yet she leaned into him placing her arm on his chest and the other resting behind her. Her face planted near his heart could hear it distinctly beating against the surface while his arm traveled up brushing the skin of her jaw very gently and then resting there.

"I won't let anything happen to you," he spoke.

"I know".

 _ **AWWWW, SS moments make me weak in the knees. The new BORUTO episode did the same. I love SasuSaku. Next chapter coming up tomorrow so don't forget to follow and stay updated. Review/fav too! Please show your support if you like this story.**_


	11. Chapter 11

**(Skip to the story below as I pen down a long reply to a reviewer)**

 **Thank you, everyone, who have followed or reviewed this story till now. I just wanted to go in and answer this one question that was posed to me in the form of a review.**  
 **Meech Macko: Thanks for showing interest and writing in : ) I really appreciate your response and also inquiring to as to why Sasuke would - 1) want forgiveness from Sakura? 2) even bother to seek forgiveness if she didn't care 3) Sakura lacks understanding for not knowing about the reality of the Uchiha massacre 4) why Sakura hasn't forgiven Sasuke in my story?**

 **Okay here's my response and it might sound a little raw but believe me I base these opinions on ascertained facts and a personal feeling.** _1) He clearly asked her to forgive him in the anime/manga after he fought Naruto in ep 479 when he realized what he had put her through. Through all his emotional turmoil and troubles it was Sakura who never gave up in seeing the good in him and in short NEVER giving up on him. Which he appreciated only after Naruto made him realize how utterly lonely he was if he didn't let people in. He WANTED her forgiveness because it would never gratify his journey to salvation because it would all be meaningless and futile if the one person he put so much through could not believe in him any longer. He also thanks her for all her concern and keeping her belief in him in the ANIME/MANGA when he leave's the village. (obviously not included in my story) 2) Now back to my story where I portray him in a light that pushes him to gain Sakura's forgiveness, which I HONESTLY BELIEVE he would have STILL done if things have played out this way in the anime as well, only because NOBODY can justify the hurt he put her through. From refusing her affection to trying to kill her, stab her, choke her and many other horrible things he did to her. Let's not forget this couple is CANON and the only reason that is, is because he TRULY loves his wife and not because he pities her feelings or anything unintelligent like that. That is not how Kishimoto made to couple out to be. So, of course, he would feel her pain and strive to win her trust back. 3) How can someone who has believed in another for 7 years straight, waited for them to redeem themselves without even the reassurance of ever returning their feelings back, and loving them unconditionally be called that? She is the most understanding character throughout the show. Even when Shikamaru asks her to break off her ties with Sasuke and give up on him, she believes it is in the best interests for Naruto and does what is morally right at the time. I for one do not tolerate even a hint of Sakura-bashing wherever I see it because it makes me realize how apathetic people are to a character who was only made to function within the limits of her feelings that were bound to someone who couldn't see the light at the time. In fact, it was BEST that she didn't know what REALLY HAPPENED because all the esteem and honor she held in her heart for the Uchiha's would have immediately have subsided because of what it turned Sasuke into. 4) Now back to why in this story Sakura didn't forgive him, it's simple. I have wanted her character to be more shallow yet human. I wanted her to revisit these hurt feelings and try and rationalize why exactly she even liked him in the first place. Which is why she feels he cannot reclaim himself until he doesn't truly win her trust back. I honestly felt it was BARBARIC for the creators of the show to let Sakura waltz her way back and falling so easily for his apology (which wasn't even a proper one if you ask me) which is the whole point of the story. Thanks for reading :) I know this was a long rant but I hated to avoid the statements you made putting Sakura under the scanner._

 **CHAPTER BEGINS HERE**

The morning light filtered through the trees descending onto spot amidst the forest onto a bonfire that had died out as four bodies lay beside each other at right angles surrounding it. The birds cooed and croaked and branches rustled against one another when a sleepy-eyed Sakura rose from her sleeping bag rubbing her eyes almost like a child. Sasuke was next, stretching and extending his arms, arching from side to side as he jerked his leg at a snoring Naruto who only budged for a second. Sakura tied up her hair and went toward the direction of the stream to fetch water and wash up.

Sasuke sat aside the smoke that arose from the firewood that had charred away and turned into charcoal, small flares arising from the brushing of the wood here and there. Naruto woke up a while later brushing his hair away from his forehead and then instantaneously asking where Sakura was, to which Sasuke just glared at him derisively like scolding a child.

They eyed their new partner who lay in his sheets covered all the way to his collarbone as he tossed around to look at them. He yanked upward and sat there for a while before rising to his feet and asking if he could go wash himself up.

"Not until Sakura gets back. We'll three go after she comes so she can clear all this up," Sasuke responded.

Meanwhile, Sakura was busy bathing in the stream, relishing the cold water splash against her skin as she stepped out after a brief soak wrapping a towel around her nude body. She shivered relentlessly as the wind blew against her cold skin making the hair on its rise. Quickly jumping into a black shirt and knee length skirt with shorts beneath she made her way into the thick foliage of bushes and tree trunks that led to where her team was. She placed the canteens and other items onto a log and fixed her bag while Sasuke and Naruto were on cue as helped Kametatsu up and walked him to the stream.

"Keep an eye out, we won't take long," Naruto spoke as he walked away with the rest. Sakura pulled out a lip balm and slapped it onto her lips, she sat there combing out the knots in her hair.

"It should go smoothly if everything goes as plan. Even the slightest drop of your guard and the men at the camp won't spare her. Trust me, I know it. They raped my wife when she tried to free herself and our kids. And they killed her mercilessly," Kametatsu was mumbling to the two while they made their way to the stream. Sasuke and Naruto exchanged nervous glances.

They might have spent almost close to an hour until they made it back, partly due to the fact that Kametatsu took longer because he couldn't move his dominant arm that freely and also because Naruto swam into a drift and got caught in it before swimming back to where they were which took him long. While walking back to where Sakura was, Naruto had engaged in casual chatter with the man while Sasuke's eyes roamed about the place searching for her. He felt a pang of insufficiency towards his promise to Sakura and wanted to reassure her that Naruto and he wouldn't let her go through anything worse.

"So Kametatsu, what are your kids like? What are they named?" Naruto asked him.

Kametatsu swallowed a lump in his throat abruptly while his eyes twitched, his lips lifting into an offbeat smile that seemed very conscious to Naruto for a second.

"Oh uh, I have a four and a seven-year-old. Both have brown hair and eyes like mine. One's got lighter eyes though and-" Kametatsu was yanked forward by his collar by Sasuke who's face was wild with anger and shoved him toward the ground unsheathed his Kusanagi and aimed it at Kametatsu just as Naruto stepped back bewildered.

"You think you can lie to us?" Sasuke inquired angrily.

"Wh-what are you talking about? What is the meaning of all this?" he replied inching away from the sword that was aimed at him and gripping the dirt with all his might.

"I will rip you to shreds if you lie anymore, you hear me?" Sasuke emphasized.

"I don't know what I said to offend you but I am not a liar!"

Sasuke's Sharingan whirled speedily as three tomoe appeared and transfixed onto Kametatsu's embedded him to the ground in a motionless daze.

A series of memories flood Sasuke's conscience as he sought for the one he was looking for. A memory of his kids. Sasuke had blatantly let the man tell him his story with proficiently well thought of lies but Sasuke wasn't buying it now. His inexplicable hiccup when Naruto inquired of his children, with just enough time for Kametatsu to come up with a prevarication, a lie which would reforge their trust in him.

Nothing that Sasuke roved through depicted the existence of children in his memories or even a wife. There were only memories of him being a part of a guerrilla organization tearing down houses and setting them on fire. One memory depicted him aimlessly wielding a blade at a pack of villagers eliciting fear into them. Sasuke's eyebrows pressed into a raging expression, his teeth grit and he brought the sword close to Kametatsu's throat.

"Who the heck are you and what is the truth? Come out with it right now or else I will tear you from the skin to bone," a tempestuous tone in Sasuke's voice.

"Huh," Kametatsu grinned, what came next was unpredictable. His feet jumped to the ground as his body lay flat, angled to the ground as he brought his arms to capture the blade of the Kusanagi between the palms of his hands which he yanked out of Sasuke's grip while kicking him in his torso with force sending him flying into the tree trunk behind him.

Naruto charged forth with a Rasengan but Kametatsu ran in the direction of the camp fire, where Sakura was. The Rasengan unwhirled, Naruto chased him into the foliage of trees while Kametatsu picked speed inching closer to Sakura. Pink appeared at the end of his vision as he held his arms out to her, pulling her into tight grasp strangling her neck with his arm and holding her hair tightly with the other in a choking hold as she gasped repeatedly. He pressed his feet backward, moving away from a very palled Naruto who was disappointed in his lack of speed just when Sasuke broke out of the trees reaching the scene.

They stood there as Sasuke's muscles twitched convulsively as he plotted his next move. He made to make this maniac didn't snap her head off which he would if he made the wrong move.

"Wh-what are y-you doing, Kametatsu?" Sakura barely spoke as she choked in his grasp.

"Keep quiet, woman. If your friends move any closer I swear I'll snap your pretty little head off".

Her eyes widened in fear as they switched between Sasuke and Naruto in a call for rescue. Her arms were pressed down to her sides as Kametatsu's arms held them down tightly. They fluttered in need for movement as she attempted to break free, resulting in Kametatsu letting out a low growl. "You really do wanna die don't you, girl?"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he signaled at Naruto to make a go for it. He lunged into the air striking the two bodies entangled together causing Sakura to separate and flung into the opposite direction of where Naruto had landed on Kametatsu. Sasuke jumped into Sakura's direction grabbing her in his arms, she clung to his shirt and her eyes were shut in dread. He leaned his face to check for anything wrong with her and noticed the red marks on her neck caused by Kametatsu's choking.

She stepped near a tree as he walked in front of her protectively and then sprinting into Naruto's direction. As if almost anticipating their simultaneous attack, Kametatsu made hand signs, "Earth style: Boulder crush" he muttered as his fingers split into three's while flicking them repeatedly in the air.

Boulder's flung in rounds of three's towards the now sprinting Sasuke and Naruto who dodged them but nearly getting tossed by one.

Sasuke sucked in a long breath before spitting fire, "Fire style: Pheonix Flower jutsu". Flames of fire shot up in the air targeting Kametatsu while Naruto grabbed Sakura in a frenzy and moved along for cover. Sasuke followed suit and kneeled beside them. He immediately sensed the absence of the weight around his waist and tilted his eyes to find his Kusanagi missing. Groaning in wrath he trudged outward in pursuit of Kametatsu who wasn't really visible.

Sakura tugged on Naruto's arm, to stop him from letting her go as she healed her neck. She had a horrible feeling about this whole conflict and didn't want to be out of his sight. Naruto looked at her reassuringly as he got up and paced towards Sasuke to back him up.

"What the hell are you doing here? You are supposed to be with Sakura watching out!" Sasuke hollered at him.

"Sasuke, when will you stop undermining her. She can take her of herself,"

Sasuke growled in response. They stood with their back together scoping through the green for their enemy finding to signs of him. Sasuke's Rinnegan immediately spun into action, searching. His eyes fixed onto a faint signature of heat moving towards another figure. He immediately pulled Naruto and himself toward it, in fear of Sakura being endangered. Just as they pranced into action, their field of vision blurred and nothing appeared before them. His rinnegan spun again and gazed into the distance but found nothing. Immediately a faint scream could be heard from quite a distance away. They were sure it was Sakura's. Sprinting and dashing through the bushes they made their way, Sasuke's face grew worried.

Meanwhile, Sakura was hurled by a shove to her back into the bushes by Kametatsu who now wielded Sasuke's Kusanagi. He flung it at her once, she dodged. He flung it again, she dodged it again. Her legs trembling recalling her complete lack of knowledge of what kind of skills he possessed. Yet she sprung into action, fisting her hand and punching into the ground. This took Kametatsu by surprise as he plummeted into the cracks on the floor. Her eyes scanned for his presence inching towards the debris. Upon not spotting anything she took a few steps back to retreat to where Sasuke and Naruto were but an arm sprung up from the ground grabbing her ankle yanking her down.

She felt flat on the ground as Kametatsu braced himself, pointing the sword at her. Her head rose up to see his vehement gaze when one foot shoved his stance right off balance. She was on her feet again while he scrambled across the floor distancing himself from her. She stepped forward to grab him only to be pushed by his arms back as she gained balance instead of falling. His arm extended the sword at her, while she made the run for it. Sprinting in an aimless manner not knowing which way she had to go back to.

Just as she sprang into a mound of foliage her grabbed her shirt backward and struggled to keep his grasp while balancing himself and maintaining his aim with the sword. She elbowed him and flung a kunai at him which he dodged by ducking and swung his blade at her. Small bits of pink hair fell from her face as she looked at his murderous eyes. She stepped backward when he flung her across disbalancing her. She struggled to maintain her grip.

A few more moments of his wasted onslaught passed by and Sakura screamed. It could be heard from miles away. Her shrill scream.

What had looked like an attempt at her had caused his failed thrust of the sword. He had aimed for her gut when he swung, while she stood right before him, yet she twisted her body just in time to dodge it. Causing him to retract his sword in reverse direction, which she could have stepped off from had he not clutched her hair from the back and pulled backward.

As the sword jabbed in her abdomen, he grasped her throat and shoved the blade even deeper, as she screamed; their bodies stuck like glue.

What he did not anticipate next was her arms wrapping around his hand that stabbed her jerking it in one swift strike deeper through her into HIS abdomen that was conveniently positioned behind her's.

Sakura spit blood, while her attacker jerked out of the thrust and fell backward into the dirt, collapsing. She fell to her knees and collapsed herself.

 _ **What now? Come on tomorrow for the next chapter update. Take care you guys and for everyone new here, DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW AND FAV :)**_


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you to everyone who had reviewed, faved and followed. I don't mean to sound mean or anything but I really need to be honest here. So here goes (a tiny rant)...**

 **To question me about why I PUBLICLY decide to answer to your review is a very stupid & foolish way of projecting your ego when you clearly chose to PUBLICLY review my story and throw questions at me in the first place. Be prepared to face the same repercussions, people. I also would never publicly bash anybody solely because we share a difference of opinion. I only intend to respond to your inquiries so that no reader ever feels like my story is pointless or substandard. If so I am always willing to make as many improvements as you request, just not idiotic ones. **  
**This should not stop any of you in the future to ever ask me whatever it is that you feel requires justification. Only expect that I respond to you in the light of others and not through some mingy PM to satisfy your ego. Thanks : )**

 **CHAPTER 12**

It'd been three hours. Three hours of scrunching, ringing, and blotting. Naruto was at his wits' ends. He couldn't fathom watching her wriggling in pain, her arms shiver on mere touch and her wound seemed to only slice open every time they even tried moving her. Sasuke had teared up only once when he'd seen her woeful form. Even Naruto had, but it was quite a shocker for him to watch Sasuke tear up that much. Sasuke had been wincing ever since, every time she groaned in pain, he'd wince.

Kametatsu's body lay a few meters away from their kneeled bodies, motionless while the blood that dispersed from his gut had seeped into the dirt around him.

Naruto ringed another towel, pouring water from a canteen onto it and placing it on Sakura's wound. Sasuke's arm rested on his face pressing into his eyebrows, almost dejectedly. They both could hear the faint heartbeat she emitted, but it was too feeble to even be considered. Sasuke kneeled over and took the towel from Naruto's hands and motioned him to get more water which he immediately did. Sasuke placed the towel into her wound as he watched it soak up oodles of blood as the already pinkish brown towel turned a vibrant red. His facial expressions cringed at the sight of so much blood.

It had only been a few seconds Naruto had gone that Sasuke heard a very weak moan coming from Sakura's quivering lips. His eyes widened and he kneeled further into her, her lips trembled as he touched her feverous temple. Her face lost all the color and her eyes looked beyond dull as they flickered after opening slowly. Her vision extremely blurry and her speech slurring, she swallows the hard lump in her throat while Sasuke brings forth the canteen to her dry lips. She takes it in small gulps as his eyes are transfixed to hers expecting any movement or dialogue from her.

A flash of black contracts her conscious into a long suppressed memory. The grime covered figured was reaching for her neck, his intention to choke the life out of her. His face smeared with muck the shade of tar and only the whites of his pupils and the enamel of his teeth opposed them in color. A malefic grin plastered to his face if you would even call it that while fingers clutched her throat in a constraining grip, her voice croaking and chokes seemingly stirring his blood lust. He riled up into a deep chuckle that deafened her feeble ear drums just as her arms shot up to jerk away, failing at that. A stinging sensation sent her eyes into the direction of her wound that shed profusely. Blood oozed in an unimaginable measure, to which her arms lowered holding it in place.

His lips parted to let out a venomous hiss, while his hands stiffened their hold on her neck. The air in her pipes flowed out of them in gushes although she held her breath in to save it. His wicked grin only broadening.

She choked and bled out, her body trembling in torment. Her vision subsiding and watching the last of the grime covered figure as it disappeared along with the memories she had in her conscience. Dissolving. Into an endless cry of her cognizance.

Sasuke sprinkled more water onto her eyelids as she shook around letting out low groans and uncomfortably grumbled. He sprinkled the last of the water left in the canteen onto her face when her eyelid jutted open in despair.

She took deep breaths, her dry throat fretting in dispassion and her temples askew. She jerked her elbows to support herself immediately regretting it as more blood oozed from her wound and stained the towel Sasuke held to it.

"No wait, don't," he uttered.

She fell back onto the ground, his hand already below her head captured her before she got hurt.

"Sasu-suke..." were the only words she spoke before passing out. Naruto shortly appeared in a hurry and was beside her in an instant.

"Sh-she just woke up, you missed it."

Naruto pulled the towel off her wound and scrunched it clean. The bleeding was subsiding, but they had to somehow heal the wound before she became septic. He poured water onto the towel and placed it on the wound again.

"God it fucking blows to not be a medical ninja right now!" Naruto exclaimed in ire.

Sasuke was already up, now a little more poised and at ease, shuffling toward the body of Kametatsu. Although he was a lot less bewildered at the moment, his eyes held a choler of their own. He kneeled before the body tossing it as he pulled out a hunter's knife. He quickly slit open the shirt from the back all the way and tugged the cloth away, leaving him bare.

It was peak noon now. Naruto kept on with the mumbling and soaking away the blood from Sakura's wound. When Sasuke walked toward Naruto in a haze beckoning him to come look. He held a tattered piece of folded paper in his hands. Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of it and quickly motioned him to unveil its contents.

"There could be a seal," Sasuke expressed.

"IT IS A FUCKING PIECE OF PAPER YOU MORON, JUST OPEN IT! I mean he's already dead. His team will come looking for him any time now. We have to move Sakura to somewhere safe. Let's not waste any more time we got." Naruto replied, almost frustrated. They hadn't even had their first meals and his stomach twisted furiously right now.

"Alright, let's do this further away." They moved a few meters away from where Sakura lay. Her wound covered by a blood soaked towel and her head tilted to the right.

They unraveled the piece of paper revealing a map of some sort. Ink marks labeled certain spots on the surface of it in indistinct handwriting, probably Kametatsu. It took them a few moments to recognize what place the map was supposed to represent. Both Naruto and Sasuke's eyes jolted out as all their senses completely gave way.

It was a map of the base to the Second Sanctum.

"Where the fuck did you find this thing?" Naruto inquired.

"In the heel of his sandals. Did you not search there when you frisked him? Hell, of course, you didn't or we wouldn't be having this conversation right now." Sasuke looked at Naruto furiously.

"We were in such a hurry back then, I had to miss it. I mean come on who the hell check's a shoe?" his arms spread in idly.

"We have got to decipher this immediately and inform the village of about this. The Intelligence HQ will be needing this to strategize." Sasuke addressed him.

A sharp shriek originated from Sakura's direction and both Naruto and Sasuke's gaze immediately darted to there. They sprang up and paced toward her. Naruto gasped, in awe watching what he believed was truly beguiling. Even Sasuke's eyes couldn't hide the fascination. Sakura's byakugou expanded in its full form, black stripes covering her whole body by crisscrossing themselves and overlapping over inches of her skin.

Just after she squealed in pain, her chest bounced up and then resiled into the ground again. The byakugou beamed purple and the black stripes surrounded her entire body. She hissed and seethed, while the byakugou healed her wound and within a matter of minutes it was sealed and left a very faint red trace of a scar before emitting a flickering smoke that evaporated into the air.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at her wound, absorbing the almost godlike abilities she had honed in the last few years. Sakura's eyes fluttered open and her throat made an attempt at speech.

"Wa-water,"

Naruto leaped towards the canteen beside her and gently pressed her lips against it while his other arm supported her head. Sasuke scrambled beside her, Sakura's eyes stared piercingly into his vapid face.

"Sakura..." he muttered.

Her eyelids flickered slightly as she motioned Naruto to stop. She pulled herself upward, attempting to sit.

"Sakura, you shouldn't." Naruto immediately mouthed.

She resisted yet rose up, her eyes registering her surroundings and instantly roving to search for Kametatsu's body.

"Did I manage to-to get him?" she softly uttered.

"Yeah, you did. And you also got yourself nearly killed!" Sasuke retorted in irritatedly. Her eyes flashed toward him rendering the concern in them.

"Sakura-chan, you shouldn't have put yourself in danger like that," Naruto stated.

"He was gonna get me anyway."

"It's all my fault. I let my guard down and he got away with my sword. This all wouldn't have happened if I'd had paid more attention. I am sorry Sakura." Sasuke spoke while unconsciously placing his hand her overs.

"Let's just forget about this now. We need to get out of here, right away." Sakura necessitated on her demand, eyes narrowing into the sight of Kametatsu's motionless body.

"Not in your condition," Sasuke replied.

"I am perfectly fine. The lesion is treated and I have no other injuries inflicted on me as of now, this is the right time to make a run for it."

Naruto's head tilted toward Sasuke's while Sasuke's eyes were still fixed to Sakura's silently arguing her statement. Naruto cleared his throat to grab his attention to which Sasuke replied without retracting his gaze, "Fine."

Sakura treated herself to the small gash she had on her elbow and wiped the blood that had dried onto the skin of her forearm. She sat below the tree while Naruto shuffled past her gathering her belongings and deciding to take one last trip to the stream to gather water.

Sasuke counted the food pills they had and handed a couple to Sakura before swallowing a few as well. She quietly chewed on them while wiping off dirt from her wound.

"We found something important,"

"What?"

"A map."

Sakura's eyes darted towards Sasuke who was grimly recounting the food pills and wrapped them in a dried leaf packing it inside his bag.

"Well?" she inquired, inquisitively.

"And we have sent word to the village already about it. Also about Kametatsu. We requested for backup due to all the things that have surfaced and the number of men that inhabit this camp."

"Show me," she demanded.

Sasuke turned around and stood there idly, he sighed a moment later when Sakura's expression turned to a frown as she stepped toward him and grabbed his arm unwrapping his palm to reveal the folded piece of paper.

She stared intensely at the features of the map, gazing and interpreting to her own intelligence while Sasuke pulled open his canteen drinking from it. Naruto reappeared shortly, treading behind Sakura and leaning over her shoulder to wonder what she was seeing.

"Yeah we found that,"

"I found it. Not you. Next time I'll be searching because you can't do a goddamn thing right." Sasuke responded hastily capping the canteen and fastening it to his bag.

"He would have definitely concealed this from us to make sure we fell for his trap. What even got him riled up in the first place?" she inquired.

"He gave away when Naruto asked him about his kids. Just enough time for us to realize he was lying."

"And you did not find this out previously when you examined his memories the first time?"

"I was only intent on figuring out where his base was and whatever he conveyed about his team and their formations and routine,"

"Now look who can't do a goddamn thing right in the first place," Naruto replied, his hands on his hips smiling after his satirical statement.

"Whatever."

"Shall we move now? We need to discuss what we are doing about this new development." Sakura expressed, fastening her bag to her back and clipping the lock to her waist.

"Let's go!" Naruto exclaimed before all three ascended into the branches and drifted along the north.

"It's simple. We infiltrate their border, lay low. Pervade into different positions and observe them for a day. If anything pops up, we'll radio each other. That will be our operation for today when we get there." Sasuke answered to Sakura's previous question.

"We don't know how far this place is. We might reach late at night." She replied.

"Which is better, we'll take shifts and study them. Scout their entry points, layout, and numbers,"

"Then in the morning, we'll set up camp a little far away and see if we can lure anyone out. I am pretty sure they will be sending at least one team out by the time. We should be able to manage an attempt at following their pursuit and gathering intel on what their operations are." Sasuke continued.

"Sounds about right I guess."

"Yeah, let's speed up. We won't get there any soon like this," Naruto necessitated.

The trio dashed into the trees in a swift action, sprinting and racing as fast as they could. There was an occasional mutter from Sasuke here and there. Usually about their plan and some tweaks he'd come up with every now and then. Sakura would simultaneously lower her arms to her shoulder wounds and heal then whenever she could. They had been traveling for the past two hours now, they must be nearing the borders for sure she thought.

After covering a span of three hundred kilometers the team finally halted, each one of them slumping to the ground in exhaustion. Sasuke gripped the trunk of a tree while his knees trembled and giving away at the last moment and his face briskly panting. Naruto was laying flat on the dirt with Sakura kneeling beside him, one leg tucked below her to sit on.

"We'll stop here for a while. We haven't eaten absolutely anything and we can't continue like this," Sasuke explained briefly. Naruto was still while Sakura nodded. Green chakra emitting from her shoulder, her arm healing the last of her lesions.

"I'll go hunt," Sasuke stated and instantly whirled past them, walking into the thick foliage that surrounded them and disappearing.

Naruto lifted himself up and sat, stretching his arms in an act to ease his discomfort. He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and stared at it raptly. His eyes discerning the scribbles on them, vapidly boring into the scrawl in front of him.

"What is it Naruto?" Sakura finally decided to ask her odd friend who was scratching his forehead repeatedly.

"If I am reading this right, this should be a cluster of caves here. For some reason, it's got all this information written around it like it is of some significance or something."

"Let me see," she extended her arm out and Naruto placed the map into them.

"Hmm... Wait did you notice how it is outside the boundaries drawn here in red?" she points to the map and Naruto scoots over to look, nodding.

"It seems like this cave has something to do with their operations, like an offsite storage maybe? I mean what else could they use it for?" her other arm flung into a demanding stance.

Naruto shrugged.

"Let me study this more so we can find out," she spoke before settling into the grass and gazing intently at the map. Naruto pressed his face into his arms and lay beside her.

A while later, their raven haired teammate came out of the trees and threw a knotted bunch towards Naruto. Squirrels. He even threw some firewood along with it.

"Start a fire donkey!"

Naruto jerked upward and scowled before gathering the firewood and lighting it up. They ate the roasted squirrels like the famished and deprived beings they were.

It had only been an hour since they had decided to rest when Sasuke beckoned them to get up and make a move. The setting sun irking him as the journey beyond this would only become difficult given they had no idea where this camp would be and were only following the directions Kametatsu had provided them. Which obviously came at the risk of being completely untrue. The three sprinted into the trees once again as Sakura explained to Sasuke about Naruto's findings and her theories about it. He simply nodded in acknowledgment since it didn't really enlighten them on what the caves were about. For all, they knew it was a guard post, an old bunker or just a storage site for useless items.

The trio jerked to a halt when they neared a sight they were only told about; a red pagoda visible from the distance revealing a huge shrine. Kanji letters announcing its name, just the detail they were informed of and other particulars that seemed all too real to believe. Sasuke ducked under the bushes and his teammates kneeled beside him.

"I would say it's strange but the bastard wasn't lying. He had told us about the Tanba Shrine three hundred kilometers north from where we were," he spoke.

"So we're sticking to what said right? So far it's panned out right. If so the camp would be just north east of here, probably forty odd kilometers or so," Sakura answered.

Naruto nodded and they sprang up, dashing into the foliage once again. Their tracks shifted east advancing toward the camp they were all too eager to reach. It had already been an hour since they left the spot they had halted at for a meal. Naruto itched his neck queasily, he didn't know what to expect from these men. They called themselves the Second Sanctum yet what bothered him was how they had all too easily decided to kill their comrades on a mere disagreement of values and destroyed so many villages in the process.

Minutes later their eyes widened at the sight of rubble. Gray concrete greeted their presence only building up in proximity to its source; a cave. Their eyes darted at each other as Sasuke held two fingers to his nose and jerked it a couple of times signaling them to take cover and proceed cautiously. They scooted and inched toward the cave, Sasuke and Naruto at the front and Sakura following them shortly keeping a look out for enemies behind them. The entrance of the cave was dark, no absolute noise emanating from it or the presence of any activity. Their options only narrowed down to the few, a bunker or a storage cell. Sasuke picked the pace and moved near its entrance, Naruto hiding behind the rubble beside him anticipating any attacks.

Sasuke stood there motionlessly for seconds and then trod into the cave. Naruto followed only after beckoning Sakura and hovering his eyes around the perimeter one last time. They wandered into the darkness of the cave, seemingly aware of its inhabitance while constantly tilting their eyes back to keep a look out. Naruto pulled two glow-sticks from his bags and snapped them, placing one in Sasuke's hand exposing the interior of the cave. Camouflage paint coated the inside of the walls for what seemed an endless distance, the messages, "Welcome to the end" read in kanji. Sasuke and Naruto exchanging glances, as Sakura picked up the pace. They were well inside now, almost fifty meters in. Portions of the wall destroyed due to some impact and the ground bore craters at some points, which they initially didn't catch as Naruto had almost lost balance to one.

They walked for quite some time before realizing the cave shifted into an underground section, their eyes boring into the distance as the glow sticks were now losing their light. Naruto pulled two more out and snapped them, as they stepped into the section below, each ducking their heads.

What received them left them shaken.

An underground tunnel system that was long abandoned and looked older than anything revealed itself in the light. The expanse almost too huge to fathom and the eerie silence too scary to be exposed to for too long. Sakura cringed, while Sasuke stared into the surroundings searching for openings. Naruto extended his arm around to uncover any other kanji he could find. After several minutes of exploring they made their way out to the entrance of the cave.

"What the hell was that?" Naruto broke the silence.

"Some abandoned tunnel system. Must have been used several decades back, there wasn't a trace of anything in it. It looks too dilapidated to be functional. Must not even lead anywhere, but we can't figure that out right now because it could be too dangerous. We'll just have to come back tomorrow since we-" Sasuke was interrupted by Sakura who was now pointed towards something. He walked toward her staring into the distance; small sparks rose from what seemed to be a fire. They inched agilely into the expanse of open grass, bordering the trees to maintain camouflage. Their eyes were wide and their nimble steps small yet concise.

Their eyes met the sight of several tents that were encased by barbed wires. The fire they discovered was right in the middle of the tents as several men dressed in defensive gear surrounded it and their revelry came along.

Sasuke's eyes locked onto the yellow arm bands on each one of their biceps, the symbol all too familiar.

They were finally at the camp of the Second Sanctum.

 _ **I am so sorry for the late update, I will make it up for this! :) Tell me what you guys thought about this chapter, the initial part especially where I described Sakura's injury and recovery. I really wanna know if it felt authentic as such. Also I wanna know how you felt about last chapter's little combat she had with Kametatsu and if you guys liked the way I imparted their actions. Thanks for reading! Next chapter will be up in less than 12 hours.**_


	13. Chapter 13

**Finally, the new chapter is here. I am really trying to settle into this pace of updating so that you guys also never really get bored. Now back to some reviews I wanted to answer real quick.**  
 ** _Guest101_** **\- Yes this is a SasuSaku pairing story. Although I haven't begun with much of their romance yet it is sure to pop up in the next chapter.**  
 ** _SSforlife_** **(haha ur username)- thank you so much. Yes, I have heard that one about Sakura from another reviewer but I feel that there aren't many alterations I made to her original character. If you add, a little more subjectivity to the situation of her and Sasuke, maybe you'll get it.**

 **Chapter 13**

Soldiers rambled past each other, many sat in a circle around the fire and the rest were serving themselves a meal from a counter beneath a tent. They had donned dark camouflage clothing with yellow arm bands, black sandals and some had hoods on in printed camouflage fabric. The scene looked lively as men exchanged words and no one really looked too classifiable to be marked higher in rank which would have been quite a fetch. Dark figures wandered astray among the tents, some simply entering inside to rest and some wanting to converse with their comrades. The camp was divided into two by a huge clearing in the middle where the bonfire was and tents lined the clearing on both sides. What could be discerned as a prison cell appeared to be near the right most corner of the camp. A clearing was present to distinguish the rest of the camp from the quarters of their seniors where a separate fire was set for them, some of them had taken seat while a few simply walked inside the structure along with their meal.

Naruto and Sasuke squinched their eyes to take a mental picture of which soldier marched into this particular structure. The structure was nothing massive, a two floored building with a roof which had several sand bags linked together to form guard posts. Their eyes flashed toward the soldiers who were on the roof which was on the same level as them, but they were too busy eating their meal than actually looking out.

Sakura pushed her elbows backward and shuffled towards the grass right behind them taking cover. Naruto and Sasuke did the same.

"Okay, so just like we discussed before. We need to disperse at different positions, disperse our chakra, explore whatever we can gather and meet up in the morning and sum up our findings," Sasuke ushered.

Naruto and Sakura nodded briefly before which Sasuke spoke again.

"Here's the division of duty; I'll take up terrain recon along with keeping a look out on the guard units, Sakura you'll take force-oriented recon where you'll gather everything from their numbers, equipment, activities, routines and general disposition. Naruto you'll take the last type, civil recon. Scout the entire area, their structure, capabilities, organization, the people, the events. By morning we should have a fair assessment of things and should decide whether we make a move or not," Sasuke finished. Sakura was deliberating whether or not she should search for any medical support they might also possess but she immediately realized the impossibility of it since Kametatsu himself confirmed that they were poor on medical resources and aid.

Their positions were fixed, Naruto and Sasuke took North and North-East while Sakura took South and covered the whole domain around her. Minutes turned into hours as the trio placed themselves behind rocks and bent over placing themselves securely in order to obtain every lead they could. Naruto took out his cardboard camera to click photographs of their layout which is what he was assigned to do, it had a limited reel inside it but he carried three more reels. He tossed the camera later on to Sakura when he was done so she could click photographs as well, alternatively she chewed on the food pills Sasuke had equally rationed between them which she pulled out of her mess tin.

The soldiers had all drifted into their tents and the horizon bore the first light of the Sun as the trio shuffled towards each other and hiked back to the caves. Slouching in exhaustion they decided to rest a little away from the site near a thick foliage of bushes and immediately drew their sleeping bags out and slumbered into them. It must have only been the rustle of pebbles and the shuffling of shoes that caused them to break out of their nap, all three now wide awake and alert of their surroundings. They grabbed their bags and gimped hastily into cover avoiding the source of the sounds.

Eyelids fluttered in the direction of the sound, much less due to their sudden awakening as the view before them took them by surprise. A total of six men were dressed in armored clothing; breast plated, geared with elbow and knee guards treading down a path that let them out of their camp toward the lush blanket of trees.

"What the hell do we do?" Naruto's question came at the exact moment they all wondered the same.

"We weren't prepared for them to leave so early," Sasuke croaked.

"God! We should have just had one person on guard so this wouldn't have happened, we can never tail them. They are too far away now!" Sakura exasperated.

"Well, let's just take cover for now and think of a modified strategy. We have one hour from now before any skilled sensor type nin can figure out our location. Without any byakugan yielder, it is impossible for them to pin point our exact location. Which is why we need to disseminate our chakra repeatedly and cover the entire area so that a weak signature permeates instead of a strong one. Especially in your case Naruto, you got a load of Chakra, that will be easily identifiable so you need to start doing it right away," Sasuke moved to a boulder and pulled out the folded map they had and started to analyze his surroundings by referring to it. Naruto sat next to him on a smaller boulder and held his hands out to form the Ram hand sign, dissipating his chakra throughout the field.

Sakura had wandered off after listening to Sasuke to find them some food. Her eyes were seemingly weary since they hadn't gotten much sleep whatsoever from last night's nerve-wracking task, her gaze shifted to a rabbit that sprang and bounced about just a few feet away from her. She yanked her hunting knife out and lingered behind. Her daunting eyes were sharp on the creature's trail, she passed around unobtrusively extending her bent arm out which pressed the knife tightly to her palms. Just when she was about to leap onto the white furry creature's body, she stopped in her tracks, her eyes tilting to the sight before her. The rabbit had stopped to feed her babies that nestled in a shallow burrow of some sort while another adult rabbit pounced toward it, leaning in to feed them. The rabbit's eye's instantly flickered at Sakura and froze. There was no movement between either of them, both seemingly calm and wary of their adversary's next move.

Sasuke had been scouting the entire perimeter of the camp with his binoculars, his body pressed against the boulder while the binoculars rested on its surface every time he would lower his face to scribble into his notebook. He was keeping a very detailed log of every event in it and expected his teammates to have been doing the same although his hopes of expecting much from Naruto were clearly nil.

Sakura stepped into the hinterland with quite the catch in her hands, she went back into the shrubs after seeing her teammates and laid them beside her and pulled the firewood she had tied up to the back of her tool belt. She started a small fire and squeezed the small bottle of gasoline she had with her into it. The fire blazed onto the makeshift grill she constructed with branches that held the rabbit's lacerated bodies on them. They weren't in the field of vision of the camp at the moment so they wouldn't be caught due to the smoke. She twisted and twirled the branch until they glazed a golden brown. Sasuke had stepped forward toward her by now, beckoning Naruto to join him.

Naruto's eyes broadened as he watched her poke the succulent meat to check if they were cooked. "Sakura-chan! Woah that is quite a hunting you did."

"You even killed it's babies," Sasuke mumbled.

Her wearied pupils darted towards his, boring into the mismatching obsidian and gray eyes, conveying the immediate wrath he would face if he even questioned her any further. She pulled the meat off the branch and pulled out her mess tin, unwrapping the aluminum foil it had inside. She placed the meat onto it and quickly retracted her fingers to avoid getting burned. Naruto scooted beside her and Sasuke followed him seating himself next to him. They each tore away chunks of meat off its frame and chewed on it while sipping from their canteens. Sakura's eyes constantly fleeted between the expiring fire and the bushes as if in anticipation.

"Don't worry, no one's coming. I have already set up a trap in case someone does and spread my chakra to sense any incoming one's," Sasuke spoke reassuringly.

"I am not a big fan of your trap's, you should know that by now."

Naruto chuckled while fiercely tearing away meat with his teeth and chewing it merrily. Sasuke's fearsome gaze met Sakura's clashing wordlessly. He could sense something wasn't right with her, she was on edge today. How couldn't she be, she had recalled how her visions had come back when she had been stabbed by their captive before. How it transitioned into Sasuke seamlessly, every feature shifting miraculously to fits his own, the grime soaking into his pale skin, the pupils changing color and the hand that choked her shifted to her forehead. She was wary of this and had only the most tenuous feeling this would happen again. Sasuke didn't feel like her safe place anymore. Mental fragments of his past self collided with her subconscious driving her into full blown psychosis, their gaze had lingered on too long to have been deemed comfortable. Her eyes shifted to the soot of ash that covered the firewood, while his eyes never left her face.

"So here are the thing's I gathered. The general structure of the camp is pretty simple, tents on the left and right belong to lower ranking soldiers. I can't distinguish which from which but I suppose Sakura would have been able to. The central passage where they have their usual training routine by training and sparring amongst themselves is connected to two places, one is the main entrance and the other is the taller structure where the senior ranking men live." Naruto completed before munching on another bite.

"Their organizational structure is not the simplest though because I found it a little difficult to discern their practical routine. I mean it's pretty bare minimum; they had a wake-up call, a morning assembly, probably a regular scouting team goes out for hunting and other activities, I mean they need their regular supply of resources right? And then they settle down before training begins along with other routine activities such as the small vegetable garden they nurse to the far west of the camp, it is surrounded by a small-scale green house where they grow their herbs and other supply like manure and fertilizers. I can gather their settlement is quite coordinated. The people can be distinguished into three categories- tacticians or strategists as I might call them, the weapons and small or medium range battle specialists, and then the other miscellaneous category soldiers such as sensory, medic and long range battle specialists. That's all I can figure for now. What do you got Sakura?" Naruto washed his hands tilting his body holding the canteen in one hand.

"I-uh, well alright. There's a lot I gathered. I estimate a total of seventy to eighty of them in number function in the camp. Their equipment is not too high level, perhaps maybe above basic. They have regular steel arsenal like us shinobi do along with other things like maces, nunchakus, etc, They seem to house quite the reading resources because I spotted a whole tent full of reading material when a few men walked out carrying books in their hands. They also have a few canine chained up somewhere south of the head structure because I could sense their presence. The guard routines on the roof change every eight hours when someone from the second last tent on the left leaves to replace them. It is also the same tent that replaces guards every eight hours on the guard post at the entrance. Yet the shift timings are different for the roof and the entrance along with the perimeter watch guards. All these men use the same tent so it suffices to say that that is the particular domain where they reside. A couple of cooks I would be confident enough to point out also live alongside them in the tent beside them along with the medic nins. The cooks also care for the gardens and the green house and serve food to the senior men personally. I didn't get the time to count how long their morning drill was but there are many other things we need to gather before we get the hell outta here," she finished.

Sasuke's facial expressions were stoic yet he mentally processed everything curtly before speaking, "Well, I realized that soon enough. Come on let's finish up here and switch up our positions and avoid the spot where the team previously traveled toward. We'll need to work in shifts before we-"

"What about the abandoned tunnels inside the cave?" Sakura cut in.

"What about them?"

"Shouldn't we be figuring out where they lead?"

"I don't think we have to time to waste on things like that for now, it is also very dangerous since we'll have to venture forth and have someone take guard while we figure out what lies beyond wasting god know's how much time we probably don't even have." He finished the discussion.

Naruto pulled out the map they had, pointing to a spot on it, "There is a pond, not 700 meters north of here, I'll have to cross the perimeter halfway along the caves and the wood behind to reach it."

"Who the hell decided you're going?" Sasuke demanded.

"Well hello-" shaking his canteen, "-we are out of water. What do you suggest we drink, each other's piss?" Naruto exclaimed. Sakura chuckled lightly and stood up. She pulled the personal role radio cables and receivers from her bag and handed them to Naruto and Sasuke.

"We'll be in range to communicate. You'll let us know immediately when something is wrong alright?"

"Alright." he plugged himself and stepped out of the bushes in the direction of the pond. Not before transforming into an older man donning camouflage clothing and dark sandals with a yellow armband around his left bicep.

Sasuke and Sakura shuffled around each other destroying evidence of their presence, their skin brushed several times before he tugged at her forearm, pulling her close to him.

"What's the matter with you?"

"What would be the matter with me?"

"Don't reply my question with another, Sakura."

"I wouldn't have to if I knew what you were talking about," their eyes were ensnared in an immobilizing stare. Their faces were only a few inches away. Sakura could feel his breath emanating from his orifices, while her eyes simply lowered to his lips and then to his neck. Her eyes shifted between his collarbones to mask her nervousness before she snapped into another one of her hallucinations. His fingers now traced her jaw soothingly.

"You know you can always tell me what's going on right?" he asked in a softer tone.

Her gaze minced into a gentler one opposed to her previous glare, "I know I can. But I don't want to."

"Tsk, Sakura..."

"We are wasting time here, you know that right?" she shoved his grip pushing him aside before stepping away from him. He stood there disarrayed.

They moved out of their cover stepping near the boulders, Sakura pulled the radio speaker to her lips, "Naruto, whats going on?"

A few moments later, he replied, "Everything is going fine, for now, I am almost there."

"Alright keep us posted."

"I will. Over and out."

They settled into positions placing their elbows on the rubble below them and gazing into the binoculars they shared to track every movement, gathering intel on their routine and their general modus operandi. Several minutes passed by like that, while the two scribbled several words into their notebooks and kept watch.

"I don't know about you but I have a feeling we really shouldn't miss out on finding out what's in those tunnels," Sakura explained her curiosity.

"Well, that make's one of us since I don't see the rationality in this whatsoever. Also, don't you fear what lies in there? What if it only adds to our troubles?"

"Fear and courage are latent in all human beings. Though, roused into activity by diverse means. I don't see why we should waste such an opportunity."

Sasuke tilted his head away from hers, contemplating her words in silence. His head unconsciously nodded in acknowledgment of her request missing the small smirk she gave him, it could almost pass as a smile.

Their eyes suddenly dragged to a pack of men walking toward the entrance of the camp. They walked aggrouped and from afar it appeared as if they were carrying something with them. Sakura grabbed the binoculars to look, gaping at what she made it out to be. They were carrying a decaying body along the entryway into the central clearing that looked beyond recognizable yet it wouldn't be a surprise to her because he had a Viridian hair and tanned skin which was now pale and maculated by blood stains. They placed his body near the medic's tent who approached him and intensively searched for vital signs and his belongings. A commanding officer made his way through the swarm of scattered soldiers as they bowed before him in a daze. He had a dark gray turban over his head his hair was a lighter shade of brown and his eyes were almost a red, you could say they were Vermillion.

He inspected the body laying on the ground while conversing with the men who had brought it. Some space was maintained between this man and the team as well the soldiers who surrounded them. He instructed the medics to take the body away which they swiftly did. They turned to make a move towards the structure he had moved out from right before-

"SA-KSZZZHHHHHHHHHH!" the radio receiver in Sakura and Sasuke's ear clamorously resounded.

"Naruto?" Sakura spoke.

There was no response. She stated his name a couple more times before a hand rose to her mouth almost stopping her. Sasuke's eyes were wide and his expression alarmed. Her eyes glistened in moments as a single tear left her lower left lid, her hands dropping the receiver.

"Sakura, they have him."

 _ **I am actually a little stoked at this point. More annoyed with myself than I was when Sakura got stabbed. The story can only go two ways from here, and you will only find out what happens to Naruto in the next chapter... tomorrow.**_


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

No, No, no... no.

'This can't be happening'

'No, not to Naruto.'

'Oh god, how did this even happen'

2 Hours ago...

"Sakura,"

"Sakura!"

Sakura jerked back into reality after her mind had just palled over all the possibilities. Sasuke's mismatched eyes met her emerald ones, her lower lips quivered in panic and her fingers trembled. He grasped them and pulled her toward him.

"Sakura, snap out of it!"

Her head plowed into his chest without even considering to grip herself once as tears streaked her cheeks, some wetting his dark vest and some falling into the dewy grass. His arms circled her back, comforting her and pulling her closer while his face rested atop hers. His hooded eyes were constantly raking their surroundings while alternatively staring at his partner.

"Sa-su-ke, how co-could this hap-happen?" she shuddered, her tears sempiternally flowing.

"Sakura, get a hold of yourself. We have to get outta here. They would have noticed his radio and those hounds would easily gather our scent from his clothing and come after us."

The distress in his voice spoke volumes of their tough luck although he passively worried about Naruto the same as she did. His thoughts wandered off to how they would even pick up Kametatsu's scent off Naruto and wonder if he was behind his killing. Thoughts wandering into the actions they will take once the Second Sanctum made that inference. He immediately snapped out of it and glared at Sakura below, who was clinging to his shirt, cheeks soaked with tears. He lifted her and dashed into the cave with the underground tunnel system.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she whimpered.

"Exactly what you asked me to before, only now I think it's our only shot at figuring out if we can infiltrate the camp and retrieve Naruto." His response was very solid as if he already was confident of their probability of saving Naruto. Sakura tugged at his shirt and he gently placed her onto the ground, they raced towards the opening that led them underground, but now the lighting inside was completely natural; the light that entered the cave the only source. Sakura had wiped the streaks of tears that marred her cheeks and shuffled behind Sasuke right before something caught her eye. She kneeled before the scaffolding of concrete wiping the dirt off the kanji engraved on it.

It read '18-32-45' and quickly brought her hand over to another engraving, wiping it clean that read 'Welcome to the beginning'.

Her brain recalled the faint kanji that marked the walls of the cave outside that clearly read, 'Welcome to the end'. The stark contradiction now only heightening her optimism, but the digits seemed to make no sense. It could be a secret code to some combination lock or something merely trivial. Her arm raised and beckoned to Sasuke to come look at her finding, he kneeled on one knee beside her and stared at the engravings raptly. "What do you think it could be?" she posed the question. He shrugged and lifted her up by the forearm tugging her to come along. They stepped into the interior of the tunnels and took a left where they encountered the entrance of the cryptic tunnel. The darkness was intimidating, Sakura shuddered due to the cold breeze that blew from behind and into the tunnel blowing her hair forward. Sasuke turned toward her, lifting a finger to tuck the loose pink strands behind her ear.

"Shall we?" His arm motioned forward asking her.

"Mhm," she replied after a pause.

They stepped inside, their eyes constantly straying to discover any obvious articles in the debris that were present a good fifty meters inside the tunnel. The blockade looked unrealistic, almost man-made due to the fact that there was no wreckage that could explain the reason of all the rubble that was present; the roofing was intact, the walls untouched. Sakura pulled out the mini-torch from her tool belt and switched it on. The light was faint and provided minimum visibility, their eyes flickered dauntingly while their feet took careful steps avoiding the craters and rubble from hindering them.

The faint light only began to scatter upon reflecting off the debris that was now just a few feet away from them. Sasuke tilted his eyes toward Sakura, giving her a brisk nod and she simply took a dozen steps back. Her palm accumulated a surmountable chunk of her chakra as she paced forward raising her fist forward in a terrifying punch to the surface of the wreckage. The rubble began to collapse even further and scattered before them giving some way for them to ascend the mass and move forward. They flung into the air mounting the rubble and carefully moved ahead, flicking the torch to discover their surroundings.

Sakura and Sasuke started to realize that this tunnel was no ordinary tube that merely carried water from one point to another, or a sewage or even a bunker. It was indeed a supply drain that troops used back in the early days to provide equipment, rations, and other military stocks to the soldiers probably situated on top in their camps. They looked around for any ladders to ascend the pipe but couldn't find any, neither were any openings present. If this was really a supply drain, it would definitely have a bloody opening. Sakura's mind drifted to illusions of Naruto being threatened, beaten and chained, her body shuddered incessantly and she stopped walking to get a grip on herself. Sasuke turned around to look at her immediately grasping her arm before she would fall to her knees, the rubble was just too vulnerable right now and could give way any time if anything heavy met in contact with it. He tried to lift her up but she didn't budge and yanked her arm back placing it over her face and weeping gently, tears once again streaked her cheeks and drained into her black vest.

Sasuke couldn't bear it anymore, he wanted to assure her that they would get Naruto back, yet he couldn't even feel the conviction in the thought himself. He kneeled beside her and gently placed a thumb on her cheek wiping her tears away alternatively doing so to the other side. Sakura shivered and clenched her arms tightly to her chest lowering her eyes into her lap. Sasuke traced his thumb down to her chin and lifted it very gently, bringing her gaze to meet his. Soft emerald orbs peered into mismatching obsidian and gray eyes almost communicating the anxiety in them. Her pupils glistened with the faint remnant of tears and her lips were a flush red. He inched closer to the side of her face, his breath heaving down the collar of her shirt and her exposed neck. His face gently pressed to her cheek now and she felt a colossal heat surface to her face, she tried to restrain her quivering frame but just couldn't control herself due to the proximity between them. Images of Sasuke choking her and striking a kunai at her fiercely surfaced into her mind. She yanked backward from his grip and in the process ended up staring into his eyes again. This time his eyes could notice the stark difference, the clear contempt in them as the tears had dried away and the tint of her irises was a far much deeper shade.

She pulled a couple inches away from his form and placed her palms on her knees, lowering her head. His eyes did not leave her face and his mind did not leave her uncertainty he had just witnessed. His hand extended almost unconsciously and placed itself on hers not before he leaned forward to look at her face closely. Sakura hadn't recovered from his sudden action and didn't anticipate his forehead grazing her's. Her irises lifted up to look into his.

"I know I couldn't protect you. I know I can't protect even Naruto. I know that my words mean less to you now than they ever did. But know one thing, I would give my life to save yours or Naruto's if it ever came to that." Sasuke's words poured out of his lips like a poem; A poem that gave Sakura's heart the solace it desired.

"My father once told me, when I was young, everything before the 'but' is bullshit," she responded and snickered softly.

"Hn." Sasuke acknowledged her statement with his trademark expression and chuckled afterward.

"I haven't heard that in a while."

He straightened out his posture, pushing his forehead into hers a little firmly. Their foreheads were now flat against each other and their noses brushed. Sakura choked on her breath a little and her eyes jutted outward. Sasuke's breath lingered on her face and her neck and she relaxed in the surge of warm air that hit her features tentatively. She knew what was coming; eyes stopped blinking and pulses raced, blood surfaced to her cheeks coloring them a bright shade of pink. His lips nipped hers gently holding the lower in place for a second. Their eyes met shortly before they crashed into one another's embrace, lips interlocked and fretting together. Her hands had laced around his neck pulling him closer and his has slid around her waist doing the same. Their kiss started off unconventional yet bordered on the desire the two had for each other. It almost felt rough to Sakura as his arm pulled her into his lap and weaved upward to grab her by the neck; a sensation Sakura was all too familiar with. Yet this time it felt propagated by his starving desire to dominate her, passionately. He choked her softly and her breathing quivered heightening her pleasure, she released a moan into his mouth. His tongue tugged at her teeth steadily as she let it through once and for all, his tongue slithered into the extent of her mouth and hungrily tasted her. They hadn't realized how savage their actions started to seem as her fingers were now threaded through his raven locks, his through her pink hair. Due to the height difference between them, Sasuke found it difficult to constantly crane his neck to kiss her. He took a lump of her hair and pulled back bending her face backward exposing her neck. He fervently kissed her neck and bit into her pale, tender skin leaving purple and red bruises along the way. Their eyes met one more time, their gaze salacious. She could feel his uneven breathing across her neck and he could see the deepening blush of her cheeks.

They separated from each other swiftly after spending a few moments staring. Sakura's face felt hot and feverish, while Sasuke simply recalled their moment etching it into his memory, securing it permanently.

Walking into the internal cavity of the tunnel started to wear the both of them out. It had been twenty minutes of relentless walking, punching, scrambling, walking punching scrambling through all the rubble and it seemed endless. The opening of the tunnel faded away into the distance and Sakura's face started to show the first signs of exhaustion. She had expended half of her chakra and needed to rest, but she obviously wouldn't admit to it since she was recklessly determined to retrieve Naruto and get the hell out of here and back to Konoha. Her steps were labored now and she slumped into the rubble and fell on her back, Sasuke immediately raced toward her and picked her lithe frame up placing her on his lap.

"We aren't going anywhere with this, huh?" she whispered and turned her head away repressing the urge to cry. Somehow, the thought of Naruto being locked up or beaten or hurt just couldn't be fathomed by her conscience right now.

"We need to get out of here, maybe the other tunnel-"

"Sasuke, THIS IS THE TUNNEL that leads underground the camp, not the OTHER ONE, that goes in the opposite direction!" she screamed right after lifting herself off his lap, her voice had peaked a decibel she had never used with him before.

He simply did not answer. Sensing her rage and her state of weakness it wasn't a good idea to get her riled up for nothing by shooting an unseemly reply. He got up and patted the dust off his shirt, tugging her hand to now walk out of the tunnel. She quickly spun around and pulled her arm back. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded in a firm tone.

"We are getting out of here."

"The hell we are. What's the plan now? To go up to them and give ourselves up? Perhaps take them all on and free Naruto? What are you-"

"Yes! That is exactly what we are going to do!" he yelled back.

She stood there stunned. Surprised how asinine his approach had just become. Her eyes snapped back and forth between each of his before shifting in a widening gaze to the wall beside them. They bored into the vague etching that she could make out on its surface after a few moments of tremendous glancing. Sasuke's gaze followed hers only to skewer his brows into a fuzzy mess, his eyes reamed at the kanji that was engraved into the wall in very small fonts. He wiped the dirt off of it with his sleeve.

'Keep counting'.

They exchanged glances as if to ascertain that they both had read the same thing. In no way did any of these engravings make sense to them unless- Sakura's brain snapped at the thought.

They were actually all connected.

Sasuke stared into her direction waiting for her to speak.

"The cave clearly had a 'Welcome to the end' on it right? That just was meant to mislead whoever wasn't aware of the underground tunnels. But then when we reached here, it said 'Welcome to the beginning' which clearly means that there is more to these tunnels than we know. Now we saw some numbers engraved in a combination or something and then this sign. I mean I would have guessed they could have been coordinates if we were to suppose this was a supply drain right? But then again how the hell will coordinates help in a linear structure. Now it all makes sense!" she squealed when ending her statement.

"Hn?"

"18-32-45! They are the one-dimensional coordinates we need to use to dig up into the roof."

Sasuke blinked a few times before it even made sense to it. And then it did. He was so oblivious to this before when he read the kanji just now and Sakura had already deduced it. He smirked, like almost in recognition of her intellect but immediately skewered his brows again.

"We don't know what measuring parameter these coordinates are meant to use though." His question was quite relevantly notable.

"We'll just have to figure it out. It could be in feet, meters, yards, but I doubt it would be in inches and kilometers and such because-"

Sasuke cut her statement by pointing upward to the wall that had the kanji engraved on it. Sakura's eyes squinted to catch the faint carving right below it which looked rather insignificant due to its obscurity, it was really kanji or any code language either. It was a series of elliptical circles that were placed zig-zag to each other.

"FOOTSTEPS!" both cried.

Their eyes were fixed together when Sakura completed the tiny puzzle, "Keep counting footsteps."

"God we were so stupid wasting all this energy digging into the tunnel so further when all we had to do was walk a few steps back there and dig into the roof," she added.

"Yeah, but we gotta hurry. We have already wasted an hour at least and the funny thing is, if the supply drain runs below the camp, then they haven't quite come after us since we did make quite the racket. That just means we have a long we to dig before we reach up to ground level" Sasuke replied.

"Alright, let's go!"

Pacing towards the entrance their feet scraped the ground coarsely coming to a halt when they reached the opening a few minutes later. They turned around facing the tunnel now.

"Let's see. 18-32-45 right? It's gotta be 18, 32 and 45 steps. So that means three stops? Now we don't know which stop to dig into. We could easily get captured if we dig into a tent or simply get detected. So what do we do about that?" Sakura quickly asked him knowing that time was running out of their hands.

"Hn. Do you remember the camp layout?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Remember how we saw a prison cell right in front of the gardens, a good twenty meters from the entrance?"

"Oh yeah."

"My bet is we'll just have to dig up from 18 steps and see where we come up. I mean that sounds better than digging into the interiors of the camp right?"

Sakura nodded and stood firmly fixing her posture. She placed her feet together at the same mark and stepped carefully, counting her steps audibly.

"One..two...three..."

Her eyes were transfixed at the roof and her breath wavered slightly.

"Twelve...thirteen..fourteen,"

Sasuke was still standing at the entrance of the tunnel staring into her back.

"Sixteen...seveenteen...eighteen."

His eyes now lifted to look up at the exact mark above her, feet pressing into the ground propelling him into the air. He landed feet first on the roof and moved steadily to match Sakura's position. Sakura flung herself off the ground and landed beside Sasuke. With gravity acting as a deterrence, they could only use a slightly lesser portion of their chakra to dig in as the rest was consumed in maintaining their stance. His eyelids lifted to reveal a pair of eyes that drilled into its field of vision, which right now was Sakura's face.

Her arms made a dozen hand signs before it rested into the last hand sign, Boar.

Doton: Kaido Shōkutsu

Her arms flung outward almost imaginarily lifting something the rubble beneath them while amassing it to form a giant cylindrical boulder. She dragged her palms closer shaping the boulder into something like a cone now as it lifted itself off of the ground levitating right below them.

"Jump!" she screamed at Sasuke.

The boulder drilled into the roof smoothly with slight clatter while the tunnel vibrated softly. They had now landed onto the ground and Sakura's arms had flung upward supporting the boulder with no physical association whatsoever, only chakra based. Sasuke's eyes bored into the now enlargening hole as well, almost anticipating men pouring down from it once light swarm into the tunnel. His hand rested on the hilt of his Kusanagi. A few more seconds passed as the large chunks of the earth shattered away falling to the ground. Sasuke deflected the bits falling over Sakura with his sword as she took a few steps behind, her arms still holding up. Moments passed and she settled her arms bringing them down, kneeling to relax them on her lap. She had consumed a significant amount of chakra now and her arms seemed to be timeworn.

"I think that's enough, we should dig from here up. We don't want to alert the enemy," Sasuke quickly stated. Sakura lifted herself shoving her fatigue away for one last attempt before ceasing her efforts. The boulder had now crashed onto the ground with a loud thud and they leaped onto it, they pulled out their toggle ropes and attached it to a kunai casting it onto the roof. Climbing the rope steadily, they both concentrated chakra to their hands and shoved the dirt simultaneously. Small chunks of the earth descended in clumps onto the floor below them while Sakura had even held onto Sasuke's rope for him. After a while, the dissipating earth gave way to an extreme amount of earth to fall off causing their kunai to dislodge. They landed firmly onto the boulder. They launched their ropes into the roof again and this seemed to keep going on for quite some time. Just when Sakura was about to wave her hand and pull her rope out and fall to the ground, collapsing in exhaustion, light sated in through a tiny gap that had opened into the surface. Both their eyes exchanged quick glances before pulling out their toggle ropes and landing onto the boulder below them.

They breathed frantically, afraid the earth would give in any moment revealing them and partially due to their fatigue. Sasuke turned to look at Sakura, who was panting, her arms spread onto her knees firmly as she crouched her back. Then his gaze shifted to the gap in the roof through which the sun light descended.

He fumbled before speaking, "Sakura, do you have-"

"I am fine, give me a minute."

She rested in the same position until her breathing stabilized. Her arms spread across pumping chakra through them and propelled the boulder to rise accumulating more rubble into it. They reached the opening and were only a mere few feet away before she collapsed on to her knees. Sasuke instantly grabbed her before she could and placed her in his lap.

"Hold on just a little longer Sakura."

Her eyelids drooped while her head nodded several times. Flashes of Naruto being tortured and tormented repeatedly filled her mind with anguish, she pushed off of Sasuke's lap and breathed uncontrollably. His hand was still holding onto her back while she rested against it and breathed more calmingly now. They both got onto their feet and looked up into the tiny opening only to later exchange glances.

"Higher," she whispered.

Sasuke lifted her a little higher as she straddled his shoulders, her gaze now met the sun light clearly and stretched along the scene. She jerked her head side to side before her gaze glued to a certain scene. What occurred before her although made her yelp in shock, she gasped sharply only to be quietened by Sasuke who motioned her to stay silent. Her eyes now slanted into the opening to look at what she had just now conceived only to be reasserted she wasn't having another hallucination.

Naruto was tied up to an X-cross with heavy chains that restrained his arms, chest, hips, and feet. A sort of cast held his forehead in position and his mouth was gagged. The pedestal he was placed on was surrounded by a strange dark purple aura, almost like chakra while he firmly stood enchained. His chest seemed to be bruised by lashes and his shirt nowhere to be seen. His pants were tattered from the hem and what appeared like blood had dried up on the skin of his feet after seeping from his chest all the way down. A man now appeared to climb the stairs to the pedestal with a long leather tassel-like tool in his hand. He stood right in front of Naruto mumbling about something and a few moments later began flogging Naruto vehemently with it. Spurts of blood trickled from his jaw and chest and some even splattered onto the floor of the pedestal. Dozens of men were surrounding the pedestal cursing at their captive while the flogging continued.

No, No, no... no.

'This can't be happening'

'No, not to Naruto.'

'Oh god, how did this even happen'

Sakura immediately slipped off Sasuke's shoulders and fell to the boulder, breaking into a stream of tears. Her words were sketchy and incomplete yet Sasuke construed the gist of everything that was going on. His face contorted into a fearsome expression, brows squeezed together, nose all scrunched up and lips pouting angrily. His blood was boiling and his bones were aching to eliminate every man right above them starting with the flogger first. What he couldn't interpret was the purple aura that surrounded Naruto. Naruto could have easily gone into Sage mode and broken off his chains freeing himself and made a run for it, yet he didn't. Perhaps, he couldn't. Perhaps the purple aura was dispelling any chakra within its confines. Sakura was now gazing into a mismatching set of eyes, one deep red and the other gray. His Sharingan spun several times before he stood up and lifted Sakura with him.

The hole was approximately a few meters north west of the prison cell which is why they could easily view the central clearing of the camp where Naruto was being tortured. This meant that they had either opened a gap somewhere in front of the prison or somewhere between the sentry situated outside the entrance of the camp and the prison cell. Sasuke did not waste any time to weigh his options, he simply turned to look at Sakura interpreted his look and instantly accumulated chakra onto her arms and propelled the boulder further up. Sasuke palmed the earth aside and widened the gap enough to slip out of it. He stomped his feet onto the boulder and a gush of chakra surged him outward, immediately rolled onto the side to avoid being noticed and reached the prison cell beside him.

A lone gardener who seemed to be tending to the plants in the nursery stood a mere ten meters away from Sasuke. He yielded his sword and crawled towards him, instantly slashing his throat. Sasuke hustled between the plants and stealthily crawled his way from the nursery to the periphery of the green house avoiding the couple of medics working inside. His palms pressed against the glass of the structure, eyes tilting to his right before glancing out to look at Naruto. The commotion was deafening as men stomped their feet and yelled, "Kill him!" repeatedly.

Sasuke inched outward slightly forming the ram hand sign closing his right eyelid. His Rinnegan immediately spun and sucked Naruto into a Space-Time warp that openly right behind him taking the X-cross and Naruto both into it. Sasuke jerked backward in nausea that followed the use of his Rinnegan and slumped on to the ground on his knee. His eyes closed, he heaved a few times and his ears pulled into them the growing commotion of the men outside that had gone completely delirious.

He pushed his arm onto his knee lifting up, his eyes opened very slowly right before his head got struck painfully by something heavy as he slumped back into his former position collapsing on the ground.

Someone shouted at the men as a swarm of them gathered around him. They somehow managed to not see a pair of emerald eyes that were peering from out an opening in the ground that had now been quickly shut with mud before she tumbled into a fall and collapsed as well; cheeks soaked with tears and her body shivering irrepressibly.

-xxx-

 _ **I know how weak Sakura might seem as of now to each one of you all, but believe me this isn't how it is going to be. I have been away for 5 days or so because I had hit quite the writer's block and couldn't come up with much. I mean yes this was all planned but trust me there have been so many renditions you won't believe it. I have been sick as well so I couldn't write much but your reviews always make me realize how important it is for me to keep on.**_

 _ **Don't forget to review this chapter and let me know what went right/wrong? Next Chapter comes out tomorrow at 1200 hrs +05:30 IST  
**_

 _ **OH AND YES! I quoted Jon Snow/Ned stark here from GOT because I just had to. Love you all.**_


	15. Chapter 15

Two men dragged a limp body across the dirt, both dressed in dark camo clothing and yellow bands on their left biceps. Men scurried to make way for them while the two men dragged him over the stairs into the central structure swiftly thrusting his body onto the floor of the lobby where another man stood patiently, dressed in similar clothing with the addition of a dark turban fastened around his head. Loose strands of light brown hair swept across his vermilion eyes as he examined the captive thoroughly. He inched closer, each step echoing in the expanse of the lobby while the two men who had brought the captive in had now bowed down to address their senior.

"Aniki-sama, he infiltrated in here and rescued the blonde man we held captive before by somehow pulling him into some space warp. We can't figure out exactly how but his eye's seem to have some kind of special power," one of the men spoke. His own two eyes blinked repeatedly at the ground in anticipation.

"We restrained him by the chakra repelling strings and employed the seal to cancel the powers of his Sharingan, his Rinnegan still seems to be active but he can't seem to use it now." The other man spoke reiterating his partner's words by adding the exact information to it.

The man in the turban turned around to face the desk behind him that was positioned against a wall marked by a series of maps, records, and scribbles. His vermilion eyes darted to an article pinned on the wall flickering rapidly while studying it briefly.

"A Rinnegan and a Sharingan you say?"

The men nodded simultaneously.

"Hmm. Take him upstairs and secure him in the guardhouse."

The men briskly got up and moved towards Sasuke before the man in the turban spoke again, "Oh and one more thing Damero and Nuri. I doubt he worked alone. Ask the men to relocate to the other camp immediately and send every sentry with them. You two will stay here with him until I finish questioning him." The two men nodded and speedily stalked off to address their comrades about the instructions given to them.

Aniki walked toward the wide wood doors that opened into the lobby holding the each of the sides and shutting it close and stalked upstairs. He could hear the soldiers on the roof stomp through the stairway and head into the clearing along with many other men who were hurriedly gathering their supply and equipment and putting it away, preparing to travel. Turning towards his captive he walked to a cabinet to his far right and pulled two glasses out. He placed it below the tap in the sink next to the cabinet and filled them up. He placed one on the table next to Sasuke and pulled the gag down to let him drink the water. Sasuke slurped unremittingly due to his thirst and exhaustion. Aniki yanked the glass away in moments and placed it beside him on the table before picking up his own and drinking. Sasuke jerked to break free from his restraints but only seethed from the constant throbbing due to pain the chakra repelling strings that bound him.

Aniki scoffed while drinking from his glass, he placed it on the table again and leaned in to watch his captive closely. He noticed dirt on the sole of his sandals, mud, and dirt covered inches of his sandals and some portions of his trouser and sleeves. He groaned.

"You must be Sasuke Uchiha, the lone survivor of the Uchiha clan. You accompanied that boy we captured in defeating Kaguya the Creator of Chakra and freeing us all of the infinite Tsukuyomi. I must say with all of that accomplished, getting hit in the head with a shovel would have been quite embarrassing now isn't it?"

"..."

"It's alright, I don't expect you to respond. I merely urge you to hear me out, only if you answer my questions that is."

Silence.

"How did you infiltrate us?"

"..."

"How many others are there with you and what was your mission?"

"..."

"Is this connected to the ANBU member from Konoha we recently killed in one of the attacks on Shogu village?"

"..."

Aniki sighed. "Alright, since this isn't working I'll just have to make you talk." He turned to face a large set of drawers and cabinets to his extreme right and pulled a syringe and a couple of vials from them. He cleaned the needle and filled it up with a serum bringing it towards Sasuke. In the blink of an eye, the needle was jabbed into his neck and a vein seemed to expose its self in reluctance to the drug. Seconds later, Sasuke sank further into the floor and uttered curses, trembling in agony.

"Yes well, that should do it. The drug will take effect in about five minutes and all my questions will be answered in time. I cannot let what I have built be overthrown by the likes of Konoha shinobi who waltz into MY camp and disregard MY power. A few more minutes later and we would have tormented your friend there to the end of his limit, probably knocking him out dead."

What seemed like minutes was a whole hour. Aniki's questions were pertinent and Sasuke's answers were brief. Every fleck of his conscience opposing him from speaking yet words just kept pouring out. The drug had worn out a few minutes ago and Sasuke kneeled in his position, panting, drained from his trial. Aniki now knew things beyond even the measure of reason; who the team comprised of, their mission, information about Sakura, her appearance/skill/weaknesses/past, bits of information about Sasuke and Naruto's past. He got off his stool and walked downstairs towards the massive doors of the lobby yanking them open halfway. Damero and Nuri stood not more than ten feet away on the stairs in attentive positions, Nuri holding a binocular to his eyes and peering at the expanse before them while Damero alternated between sharpening his knives and looking out. They both turned around to face Aniki.

"There is a girl, pink hair, green eyes, average height and build. She is the prodigy of Tsunade the Slug Princess and excels in medical and taijutsu. She is now somewhere in those old abandoned tunnels. That is how they got inside our camp. Damero, you go look for her and take her out. Nuri, you will stay here and keep a look out, if anything strange pops up, let me know. I am not yet done with the boy. His body will need another half hour before it renders the drug useful again." With that Aniki stepped back inside and closed the doors behind him. Damero tilted his head and smirked at Nuri who was clearly annoyed about not being able to face off with the enemy himself but kept his eyes fastened to the binoculars. Damero shoved his tools into the numerous pouches attached to his tool belt and stalked off into the clearing.

Damero was a very rambunctious man, for the lack of a better word. He would never keep quiet or believe in the 'silent treatment'. He rather believed in the rationales of torture and direct confrontation, which is why Aniki believed he was the right choice to face Sakura. Damero's physical features were in the same fashion of his personality, loud and quirky. He was olive skinned, with platinum blonde hair that was till the length of his shoulders in a fuzzy mess. His eyes were a defect of the heterochromia condition. One was a deep shade of blue while the other violet. His specialty was with weapons and with each one he was prolific; right from the precision of his shuriken jutsu to his nimble yield of the Nunchuk, he was like Tenten. Yet his skills were on par with someone of high jounin level. He carried on his shoulder a small pack that seemed to carry some of his heavy weaponry and the rest of his knives, chains and light weight weaponry was secured to his tool belt. Weapons were his métier.

The mouth of the cave was just a few meters away when he tripped on a cable, his legs leaping in an involuntary act. The explosion drove him far into the distance almost throwing him off the cliff until he propelled his Kusarigama* to dig into the dirt, securing him. He hung not ten feet from the cliff while imparting chakra to his feet and walking vertically upwards. As he reached the edge, his hand pressed hard on the concrete pulling himself up only to be harshly stepped on by someone's feet. Emerald eyes met a pair of mismatched violet eyes, Damero hissed in pain and launched his other arm yielding the dead weight of the Kusarigama at Sakura. She belted along backward and balanced her stance a few meters away, while Damero pulled himself up and kneeled on the edge, panting heavily. Instantly sensing his impuissance, she fisted her hand and launched an immense amount of chakra at the ground disbanding all the concrete as the cliff now cracked vigorously, separating chunks of concrete into scantier rubble. Damero thrust his Kusarigama into the air once again hoping to latch onto the concrete that was still intact. Instead this time the sickle-end was caught by Sakura who tugged it towards her instantaneously. Damero's eyes caught a glimpse of pink hair yanking the chain upward as he hung from it helplessly. He pulled the daggers from his belt and flung them at her just as she was about to yank him upward and punch him.

The dagger missed yet sliced through the fabric of her vest at her shoulder before she could duck. Sakura backflipped a couple of times and landed on her feet, punching labouriously at the concrete floor to dislodge it and send Damero out of balance again, yet this time Damero raced towards her and flung his fist landing a punch into her chest. Sakura flew back almost crashing into the hard rubble that surrounded them, just as she drove her elbow pushing herself off the ground Damero towered over her with both knees on her sides pressing a sharp blade to her throat. Sakura's eyes widened remarking his incredible speed that would put even Rock Lee's to shame but couldn't really do much at the moment due to her impassive state. Her right arm slipped along her side to fetch a kunai from her pouch but was immediately countered by Damero's arm that twisted it over, yanking it away.

Sakura growled in anguish.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." His violet eyes bored into hers and the blade he held to her throat was now lined with blood that drained out of the cut it was making. She flinched in pain and tossed her head to one side while he leaned closer to her face.

"What a shame that I have to put down a beauty like you. We could have come down to an understanding now if your partner hadn't been so reckless now." The blade now traced its path down to the neckline of her vest and fringed at its ends tearing it open slightly. The cold metal touching against her flesh made Sakura flinch as her eyes screwed themselves shut and she let out a frightful gasp. Damero eyed her viciously and drew his blade lower almost tearing her vest open to reveal the cleft of her breasts. Sakura took this opportunity to fool him into believing she was incapacitated and drove her left hook into his jaw slamming it so hard that a tooth flew right off. It knocked him over to her right and she lifted herself up turning around to face him, her right leg instantly casting a firm kick into his gut shoving him meters away from her. His head hit a huge boulder knocking him unconscious.

"I wouldn't have done that if I were you," Sakura slowly mouthed while fixing her shirt to cover her chest modestly. Damero thrashed onto the ground frantically trying to grasp onto it lifting himself up as his blurred vision could make out a pink figure walking closer to him. Just as she was about to launch another punch into his gut to knock him out completely, he flung a flail* at her he pulled out from behind the confines of his tool belt. The chain now wrapped around Sakura's bleeding neck chocking it dangerously tight, her hands thrashed against the chains in a frenzy as he held the handle to the chained mace. He got back onto his feet and yanked the handle and the chain tautly, wrapping it around one of his hands choking her tighter. Sakura let out choked groans and whimpers falling to her knees with her fingers constantly trying their best to tug at the chains and failing miserably. Damero pulled at the chain more tautly and stepped closer to her. The chains make a crackling sound, the sound of the bones of her trachea being cracked, with each of his steps he pulled with more force choking the life out of her. Her eyes were blood shot now and tears flowed out of them, the pupils almost jutting out at him when suddenly her gaze lowered to his tool belt and she immediately pulled a kunai out of her pouch and struck it at him, the kunai striking his torso sharply. His grip on the handle instantly loosened and so did the chains that gripped Sakura's throat chokingly.

She massaged her now blood stained neck and a green aura emitted from her palm that sealed away the gash caused by the blade earlier. She rose to her feet while Damero was now struggling to pull the kunai out of his chest, his weapon's bag fell to the ground and Sakura's eyes darted toward it immediately questioning its purpose. Damero, still at his feet stepped dementedly forward, his hands frantically holding the kunai in place right before he pulled it out and paced towards Sakura aiming it at her in an unsteady stride. She merely stepped back dodging his aimless attacks right before she eyed the bag that was now a few feet away from him. She moved around to face it and picked it up, turning herself around to face her enemy who was right on her toes. She accidentally dropped the bag another few feet away from him and ran away from him. His chest wound seemed to have stopped bleeding and his shirt and trousers were soaked in his blood while he falteringly chased her. She walked backward, her gaze fixed on the bag that he seemed to now walk towards. He violently yanked the chain of the bag opening it while her eyes only horrifically watched whatever it was that he planned on pulling out. A crossbow.

Forming a combination of swift hand signs on encountering the weapon in his hand she landed her palm onto the ground screaming the words:

Doton: Dochūbaku

A descending landslide of boulders and rubble launched onto Damero who narrowly escaped it by dashing sideways dropping his crossbow in the act. The crossbow now lay right in the middle of both Sakura and Damero who eyed it simultaneously. Sakura raced into its direction and so did Damero. Just as she kneeled to pick it up, he yielded his tanto* sword striking her knees, slashing them with slits that penetrated a centimeter into the skin. Blood seeped out just as she kneeled completely onto the floor. The stretching of the skin caused her to yelp in extreme agony while her feet now deliriously pulled out to straighten themselves so that her knees could stop hurting. Her agitation only resolved by a fraction as her feet defensively shoved themselves away from Damero who stood a few feet away from her, still holding onto the tanto her eyes glared at. Her feet frantically shoved backward while her entire body crawled, he took slow steps towards her with an almost fiendish expression on his face. He constantly tossed the tanto in his hand gripping it while taking slow steps towards her writhing body. Sakura's eyes darted around in a frenzied effort searching for rocks to hurl at him but just as she did so his pace picked up and her eyes fell upon the crossbow not ten feet away. She crawled faster and her knees bled profusely while her ears picked up on his malevolent laughter and the rustle of his sandals.

He drew the tanto backward aiming at her chest just when her hands felt the cold metal of the crossbow. She yanked it upwards not even caring to check where it was aimed and tossed it around the fix the aim of the arrow towards him in an unsettling manner. He was not even a few feet away from her when both yielded their weapons simultaneously. The sound of a single thrust frightened the birds that sat on trees, disrupting their tranquil.

Damero sunk onto his knees benumbed by the arrow that struck his heart. His tanto fell beside his now bleeding form as Sakura herself sunk back into the rubble. Her knees bled gradually while the rest of her body just trembled in distress and pain, her eyes fluttering constantly as she tried to force them open.

"Now that we are done with our little examination, how about we put an end to this?" Aniki's commanding tone resonated in the room where Sasuke kneeled on the floor right before him. Sasuke's eyebrows twitched and pressed together in deep concentration almost as if conjuring up the strength to awake them. Aniki's eyes narrowed when he saw his captive's efforts, he stepped forward pulling a blade out of his pouch aiming right for Sasuke's throat. A portal opened right behind Aniki out of which an olive skinned arm yanked Aniki's collar backward before he could strike anything. Blonde wisps of hair surfaced out of the portal while Aniki struggled to breathe, the hand that tugged the collar now snaked around Aniki's throat choking it.

"Not so quick, Commanding Officer Aniki."

-XXX-

 **Appendix**  
 **Kusarigama-** A weapon that has a sickle and a weight and looks very complex. They are connected with a chain. The length of the chain is about 1000-4000 mm. To use it, the weight was thrown at the enemy's weapon to drop it or used to coil the weight around an arm or the enemy's weapon with the chain.  
 **Flail-** A shorter weapon consisting of a wooden shaft connected by a chain, rope, or leather to one or more roughly spherical striking ends. Modern works variously refer to this particular weapon as a "military flail," "mace-and-chain" or "chain mace," and sometimes erroneously label them as simply a "mace" or morning star, terms which technically apply only to rigid weapons.  
 **Tanto-** The tantō is a dagger. The blade is single or double edged with a length between 15 and 30 cm (6–12 inches, in Japanese 1 shaku). The tantō was designed primarily as a stabbing weapon, but the edge can be used for slashing as well.

-xxx-

 **Sorry about the late update, I had been working on this chapter for so long and I really wanted it to be absolute and interesting to read. Especially that it involved action sequences that I hope you all felt were quite comprehensive yet readable and engaging. Next update will be by Tuesday.**

 **Don't forget to review/favorite/follow :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**CHAPTER 16**

The wind that blew eastward was stiff and uncanny; it didn't seem to carry the faint smell of wet dirt and limestone anymore. More like dry earth, spice, and blood. It smelled of blood.  
Aniki's eyes peered at Sasuke's slumbering form, he was losing consciousness and the chakra repelling strings were not letting him recuperate whatsoever. His body was shifting from static to limping. Aniki was frozen in his stance as he felt the strong aura of chakra from behind him grabbing at his collar yanking him away from Sasuke. His hands jerked back in a frantic effort to jab the blade between his fingers at his opponent. Naruto pulled back and let go of his collar only to yank him back all the way thrashing his body onto the floor.

The loud thud brought Nuri's attention to the floor above him, his eyes darted upwards at the balcony and his hand rested on the hilt of his sword, his legs raced up the stairs towards the lobby. The only thing that brought his body to a halt was the dispersing chakra right behind him about fifty meters away. His eyes squinted to view the person clearer; A limping rosette walked across the clearing right toward him.

Nuri yielded the sword resting it on his side, recognizing the rosette from the description Aniki had given Damero earlier. His brow twitched in disbelief of his partner's failure, pondering over what condition he was even in right now. His eyes glared from top to bottom of Sakura's form analyzing the blood that stained her knees, shins and calves, neck, and an exposed chest. Yet there was not a trace of any flesh wound of any degree that wound indicate the blood loss. The fabric of her shirt hung loosely over her chest and waved in the wind revealing in little displays, her cleavage. His eyes raised up to her face, emerald eyes that cast a fierce look almost deemed to be murderous. Blood spots covered the left side of her face and a clear trail of blood seeped from her left ear, drenching some of her pink hair in it.

He stepped down from the stairs walking into her path now only a few meters away while she clearly looked like she wasn't stopping for anything. A string of constant crashes could be heard from upstairs which Nuri's ears picked and his head darted up to hear clearer, he couldn't really do anything about it now knowing he had an opponent to face of his own.

"You should be paying attention to me, I am not some weak woman you know. I did kill that foolish comrade of yours who seemed way too keen on getting killed in the first place." Sakura spit words that sounded all too unfamiliar to even belong to her. Her face held a malignant expression, one that only came upon her in like... a million years. This was a side of her no one had ever seen before, not even the battle with Sasori had brought out this side. Instead, she was only provoked by the heartlessness of her previous opponent and this whole situation that had seemed to have turned for the worse causing her so much distress. She had vowed after seeing Sasuke taken captive that she wouldn't reveal even a glimpse of her weakness no matter what it took.

Her stride faltered but her path was clear and defiant of the weakness she felt in her limbs. The Byakugou had healed most of her damage but it didn't take all of her fatigue away. Nuri now awaiting her to make a move stood on the last step of the stair with the sword in his hand. She clearly had no idea of his abilities, unlike Damero whose tool belt and evident weapons indicated his métier, Nuri seemed devoid of any proof. Yet she stomped on ahead with determination and a choler on her face like no other. She stopped just a few meters away from him and pulled her arm from behind, she had been hiding it behind her form hauling some sort of equipment along with her she didn't want to reveal just yet. Nuri's piercing gray eyes caught sight of the crossbow she yielded now aiming it for him when his body reflexively raised his sword up charging at her with great speed.

Sakura pulled the trigger of the crossbow and the arrow hit right into Nuri's shoulder blade but she flinched immediately when his sword sliced through her abs. She jerked back in a futile attempt to dodge his attack and was struck again by his sword, now aiming right at her throat. She pulled her feet back flipping a few feet away from him.

Nuri stood unhinged by the arrow that pierced his shoulder, his gray eyes were emotionless almost as if he didn't feel pain at all. His fingers wrapped around the arrow and pulled it out tossing it aside and raising the sword in his other hand. Sakura's eyes twitched in disbelief of her opponent's tolerance to pain, she had to think deeper. He raced toward her swinging his sword swiftly only striking the crossbow she had raised to defend herself. The blade struck the metal of the weapon and the crossbow dismantled into two falling to the ground. Sakura's eyes widened and she instantly backflipped fleeing away from her opponent. His fingers formed a swift series of hand signs before casting his jutsu:

Ketton: Chi no odori  
(Blood style: Blood dance)

Sakura's body plunged into the ground and then reared forward controllably, her muscles contorting in absurd manners as she seemed to lose all control over her body. She arched her back surrendering to the throbbing ache of her muscles that could not keep up with the frantic movements cast by Nuri who stood right before her gathering his arms together and scrambling his fingers almost as if controlling her erratic moves.

Her eyes widened in horror baffled by this new jutsu that she had never faced almost ceding her will to fight back due to her depleting chakra and the excessive use of the Byakugou. Once he brought his arms down to his side, Sakura slumped to the ground falling on her knees to the ground in defeat. Her chapped lips brushed against the dirt and so did her bruised cheeks. Her head was throbbing in pain and all that her conscience gathered was the movement of her opponent's feet approaching her. This was the time her mind chose to replay glimpses of her ordeal, some way beyond into the past few years and some as fresh as the blood that poured from her wounds. Her eyelids fluttered before shutting themselves.

Naruto wasn't done tossing Aniki around. He wanted to bruise him, the same way Aniki ordered his men to do to Naruto. He hurled kicks, jabs, and punches and just as Aniki was in the right range, Naruto built up chakra into his palm and drove his Rasengan toward Aniki only to be shoved firmly to the side as the Rasengan hit the wall caving in.

"Let's not be hasty now."

"Oh, so you think you can tell me what to do?" Naruto retorted fiercely. He aimed back at Aniki this time with three kunai gripped between his fingers. Aniki slumped and dodged them and knocked Naruto by the feet. Naruto tripped but quickly gained balance and brought his fingers together in the Ram hand sign.

"There is no need for that. I haven't even begun fighting you off, you'll need it when I do."

Naruto's eyes were thin slits that peered at Aniki and grasped his words crystal clear, yet he didn't budge or yield his jutsu. His eyelids glowed orange and he entered Sage mode. A crimson cape sprang upon his attire and his pupils shifted to yellow. He stepped closer to Aniki now, yielding his arm out to gather chakra.

"Like I told you, save it for when I fight you. For now, I request you to hear me out."

Aniki's vermilion eyes shot a fierce glare before lowering and gathering the entirety of Naruto's transformation that appeared to baffle him. His eyes roved around the room to probe Sasuke's slumbering form that seemed unhitched by his altercation. He turned back to face Naruto who's eyes were fuming, eyeballs jutting out and his cape flapping in the gush of the wind that came in through the cracks in the wall caused by his Rasengan. He seemed to only stand still anticipating Aniki's next words before he could make a move.

Aniki cleared his throat before he spoke.

"For several years the Sanctum was known to reform ram shackled villages, people living out in poverty with little to no food or access to health care and other amenities. We took them in and provided them with such facilities. What we could never learn originally was why their numbers only went up and by the end of our supplies, we could no longer provide for them. We couldn't take any more of them in. Our community was too large to regulate. Fortunately or unfortunately, many of these men, women, and children decided to leave and or migrate away to other villages seeking permanent shelter. It seemed rather too convenient for them to have had used us and never really acknowledge our aid towards them."

Naruto's eyes were now narrowed down and he deactivated his Sage mode knowing this conversation would drag out and unnecessary chakra would be depleted. He really did want to know what it was exactly that brought together the Second Sanctum and their inner workings, but more importantly, he wanted to know really their next move was.

"Now you might be wondering why I am telling you all this. Perhaps I am quite the fool that you make me out to be, or perhaps I have never really understood how it was that such a complex and well-drafted organization such as the Akatsuki was brought down to the ground only after they rose to their helm, and considering now who it is that I am talking to, who else better than to ask than you?"

Naruto's eyes widened at the mention of the Akatsuki not having anticipated any connection between the two groups.

"Now I might sound like an ostentate man remarking about how the very organization that I created has survived over the past fifteen years and only disbanded once, only to be reformed in the next year with much stronger values. The Akatsuki was quite the hindrance to us, let us thank you for putting an end to them, only to have accelerated our purposes and plans into action. It might be quite evident to you how in just the last two years we have accomplished so much. From capturing the Land of River and its tiny districts to most of their water supply, a fraction of even the Fire Country's water supply. But this is not where we are stopping because this is not where we have even begun."

"What we seek, is the conjugation of all nations. Put all these tiny villages, towns and nations together and govern them by a body of people who run every aspect of its operations in their own judicial and appropriate manner. No more fighting over food, military or power. Our organization will merely be at the helm of it all, exerting control over this body and maintain peace throughout all villages since there are so many of them."

Naruto's gaze lowered to the hard oak wood floor as he mustered the sound in his throat to form his question.

"And you justify the killing of men, women and children from all the villages you took over to gain this control over our water supply? How does that work?"

Aniki smirked.

"They were the very same people who stranded us when we needed their support the most. The ones we provided for, for years. Only to have them walk out on us like our aid meant nothing to them. We killed them with little to no bloodshed let me tell you that. I find no pleasure in taking lives, I only convince my men to do what they feel is right for the prospects of our organization, and my men never choose wrong."

He cleared his throat once again before speaking.

"The Second Sanctum came about when the first set of us opposed each other's views on how the world seemed simplified now that it was rid of the Akatsuki, and evil forces such as Kaguya. We were losing impulse, momentum and a drive to remind each other why we actually needed this revolution now more than ever. The First Sanctum was wrong for having disbanded, for it only took away with it valuable and cherished members. Members whose graves now grace the banks of the Yatsu river. For those of us who disagreed, we simply put an end to them. No one could walk away after knowing this much about our workings, at least no one alive."

Naruto glared at Aniki's now stoic face who rested his right hand on the edge of the table and leaned slightly against it. His eyes roamed around the room skimming for any tricks he might want to pull on him.

"And why do you feel the need to tell me all this?" he finally conjured up the will to ask.

Aniki's smug expression now turned was pushed into a deep chuckle. He traced obscure shapes onto the surface of the table contemplating his response.

"You ask me why when I just repeated myself twice emphasizing how you have helped the Sanctum throughout our journey. By taking out the Akatsuki and releasing us from the Infinite Tsukuyomi you gave us our purpose back, Naruto Uzumaki."

"Are you thanking me then?" Naruto's expression was still firm and graveled.

"I am merely making you recognize your relevance in keeping us intact; our goals as well as our members. Those men out there might have tortured your body, but deep inside they have half as thankful to you for having given them their faith again. Which is why Naruto, I have a proposal for you."

Naruto stared into Aniki's deep orange eyes, a color he was very fond of yet in this situation could only feel insinuated ill will. He nodded allowing Aniki to speak ahead.

"I want you to speak with all five Kage about my organization's purpose and come to terms with our demands or negotiate in ways with which we both can sustain together."

"You want me to ask the Kage's to make you and your guerrilla group the head of a panel of uneducated people governing millions of lives at their whims and belief's, you must be fooling around." Naruto's cerulean eyes were now twisted into provocation. How could this man be so dumb.

"I urge you to negotiate this offering in a way which is acceptable by both parties. We don't expect the Sanctum's real plans to fall in place just as we expected them to, but we still do expect them to understand our requirements and pay heed to them. Or less the bloodshed won't stop, and this time it won't just be the water supply we'll be cutting off or innocent peoples' throats.

Naruto yelped at the thought and his face swelled with anger. This man was clearly ready to do whatever it took to make his vagaries come true, no matter what it cost.

"Before you answer to my offering, would you mind coming along with me to where my men are and having a word with my General's? I believe there is quite a lot they will have to say to you that will convince you toward my cause." Aniki spoke and tilted his head to face Sasuke who was still out of it.

Naruto followed his gaze. "What about him?"

"I have my guard posted below, he'll take care of him and make sure nothing happens. Same goes for your pink haired partner."

Naruto's eyes widened. Sakura. How was she? He hadn't even thought about her.

"She's here?"

"Oh yes, she and your friend here tried infiltrating us. So we had to imprison them, I merely brought Sasuke here for questioning." Lies spilled out of Aniki's mouth like bane.

Naruto grimaced before turning around to the now large hole in the wall.

"Where are they?"

"Just a few miles away. We relocated to our other camp."

Naruto turned his head around and nodded. To which Aniki led the way by pulling out of the opening in the wall and sprinting away, Naruto following closely.

The room permeated with silence for a while but not before Sasuke coughed onto the floor pushing his immobile form to gain stability. The silence resonated in his ears that were the only possible sense of his that wasn't hindered with. He tossed his body around pushing his fastened hands on the floor and everywhere he could search for the knife Aniki yielded so he could cut the strings. He fell forward and then tossed around haplessly searching for it. A cold breeze blew onto his sweat coated face tugging the dark strands that had stuck onto his face bringing with it the smell of grime, blood, and cinnamon.

Blood.

Cinnamon.

Sakura smelled like cinnamon when he had kissed her. When he had left her in the tunnel to bring back Naruto. Which he wasn't too sure if he was able to bring back from the Time-Space dimension he had sent him to. His body puckered around again, bringing him back from his thoughts and the panic that resurfaced every few seconds. Sakura was in danger.

His fingers pressed against the sharp end of the dagger and he positioned it steadily against his hand ties snapping them open. When he was done, he consumed his surroundings, the wall had caved in and the floor looked like someone had skin past it several times. Someone had clearly had an altercation here and Aniki was nowhere to be found. His attention panned to the noise coming out of the balcony now, probably from the clearing. He shoved past the glass doors and stood before the railing, taking in the scene before him.

A pale skinned man in the same clothing as every other soldier now clasped Sakura's hair in his palms bringing his sword to her throat. She wasn't fighting it as her emerald eyes spew out of narrow slits now tilting to face Sasuke's once she sensed his presence. Sharingan whirling in his right and the Rinnegan in his left.

-xxx-

 _ **This chapter was a little boring for me to write. I am personally not satisfied with it either and I kind of dragged it along because well I have the entire timeframe of the story in mind and all of these details had to happen so that is why.**_

 _ **Sorry for any grammatical errors, I was really tired and did not check through these but if you feel there are plenty of them in this chapter please do mention and I will alter them immediately. Next chapter on Thursday!**_


	17. Chapter 17

**NOTE:** ** _For everybody wondering what Sakura's attire/uniform looks like, I was inspired by Alissa Violet's look in the music video "It's Everynight Sis" by Rice Gum. Go check out the diss track on Youtube if you want to see how Sakura's uniform is like. The only difference being, her crop tank isn't strapless and she wears elbow length gloves._**

 **Chapter 17**

Nuri glanced up at the dark figure standing in the space of the balcony staring down at him. He could clearly make out a pair of mismatched eyes glaring at him, one crimson and the other purple-grey. His hold on Sakura's hair loosened and she dropped to the dirt, slumping into a cramped position. Nuri walked a few steps ahead without shifting his sight from Sasuke's while he swiveled his sword in his palm tenaciously, obstinate determination and blood lust evident in his hazel eyes.

Sasuke climbed the railing and dived into the clearing landing on his feet, one kneeling and the other bent. His Kusanagi was drawn out and his gazed between Nuri and Sakura who was completely knocked out of it. There was an eerie silence, the kind that precedes the storm. Nuri stopped tossing the sword in his palm around and now clasped it tightly, Sasuke held the Kusanagi to his side and didn't move it an inch. They exchanged glowers of contempt, hostility, and rage while Nuri had stopped right before him a few feet away revealing his features more distinctly. They stood like that for moments and then they charged.

Clinks of two swords scraping against each other could be heard not seconds from when they charged toward one another. They thrust against each other intensely while their feet gripped the dirt jamming into it with the same force. Their eyes continued their unyielding glower while metal scratched metal causing sharp sparks to fly past it. They both immediately exerted chakra onto their blades and were thrust back onto the dirt again gaining control over their posture.

Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu

Sasuke's hand signs were so swift Nuri hadn't even picked up on them and was immediately tossed around as he dodged each fireball almost losing balance to the oncoming blaze. The arbitrary path of each blazing flame tossed Nuri into the dirt, one flame even glazing his shoulder right where Sakura had stabbed him. Nuri pressed his fingers deep into the mud, nails scouring into it. His eyes probed the burned fabric that stuck onto his flaming skin, he snatched the portion yanking it off him. His eyes glared upon Sasuke's whose own were bereft of any reaction.

Nuri enveloped his face from the beam of sun light with one hand, holding his flaming shoulder in the other. Thrusting his foot hard he rose up and picked his sword along with him. A pure red layer of chakra now coated his sword while he pressed it between his arm and torso, bringing his fingers together to form a series of hand signs of his own.

Ketton: Ketsueki no Saku

A thrush of bloody ropes jut out from Nuri's torso swinging in the direction of Sasuke, his sword now coated completely with bloody chakra made a roiling sound. He advanced toward him taking each step gently. The ropes bound Sasuke from all angles suspending him onto the ground right before him, Nuri stepped in front of him ready to stab him with his sword like a gutter. Sasuke's expression grew fierce and his Rinnegan glowed intensely. The ropes broke in a sudden resonating motion all around him as the blast pushed Nuri few feet away. He got onto his feet again and now walked towards Nuri making hand signs while the Mangekyo Sharingan took its place in his left eye and his Rinnegan whirled alongside. A senbon of Chidori whirled in every direction hitting Nuri and the apparently hanging blood ropes from his torso sending his body across the clearing meters away.

Sasuke's stoic face showed the slightest existence of a smirk before shifting its gaze to the unconscious form lying in front of him. Sakura whimpered slightly. He walked in her direction wanting to gather her and retreat somewhere safe where he could dress her wounds. Right before he could kneel his whole body spun backward almost hitting the stairs leading into the lobby. His eyes opened to see the sight of his opponent now reaching toward him with the blood chakra covered sword, his torso rapidly bleeding but also covered in the same chakra.

Sasuke scowled before making a hand sign and his Mangekyo Sharingan whirled once again.

Susanoo: Hozan

His partial Susanoo slashed it's sword at Nuri only to be responded by his own Blood Chakra coated one. Both swords clashes severely before the Susanoo's overpowered the other and sent him flying in the opposite direction.

Nuri balanced his feet placing his free hand on his knee and tilted his head up grimacing intently. His chakra surged and covered him entirely now including every bit of his armor and body, he cast another jutsu:

Ketton: Chi o nogareru saihon

His blood cells surged along with the rising amount of chakra, and trails of red began seeping chakra from Sakura's body and Sasuke's Susanoo. Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the sight before he advanced at him with his Susanoo before throwing it's fist to bind him.

Susanoo: Kobushi

Nuri was enveloped by a purple Susanoo fist, red still beaming from his body and the surging chakra not seemingly diminishing. His body was still seeping chakra from Sakura and Sasuke's expression only turned worse. He ground his feet before slashing his sword at Nuri again this time actually causing more damage as Nuri only freed himself mere milliseconds before the blade could attack. His torso bled furiously.

He held his chest with his free hand still holding onto the sword which now wasn't covered with any chakra at all. His own chakra reducing in short spikes as the robe of red chakra began to subdue and the beam that sucked chakra retracted. He clutched the fabric covering his chest and spit blood onto the dirt, scowling in agony and twisting his eyes in anguish. Sasuke decided to end his agony by casting his final move and advanced his Susanoo forward slashing his sword one last time only to be met by another.

Chi no ha!

Nuri screamed and a humongous blade covered with blood jut out from the sword he was holding, the already existing one incrementing in size. The swords clashed in an inviolable and hard clangor. Sasuke's Kusanagi clamored vigorously and so did Nuri's blood blade, it was a clash of unworldly powers.

In the end, Sasuke's Susanoo took its complete form thrusting his other arm at Nuri to ground him into the dirt and the Blood blade yanked right out of his clutch. Nuri landed in the dirt parting it in two. He spout blood, coughing vigorously and his gut twisted in painful rolls tracing his hands on the gashes that covered his now bare torso.

Nuri gave one last effort to rise up but fell quickly falling unconscious onto the ground. The Susanoo's cloak diminished and spewed into Sasuke's back in remittance. Sasuke fell to his knees as his chakra levels roller coastered rapidly. He gripped the dirt, squelching in breath after breath. His eyes lifted up to grasp the view before him; Nuri sprawled across the floor of the clearing with bloody gashes all over his exposed chest and one hand cast in the direction of his sword which was quite a few feet away.

Sasuke trod on his feet, now in the direction of Sakura as he collected his sword and wiped the blood off of it. Sakura lay slouched onto the dirt one of her arms was evidently dislocated or broken and needed fixing, the valley of her breasts pressed closely and a peek of her exposed chest was noticeable. Her vest was tattered from the shoulder seams and so was the hems, her exposed baggy pants revealed the wide holes in her mesh leggings. He cringed at the sight of the blood that was mixed with mud and grime that coated her legs, chest, arms, and shoulders.

Bending on his knee he placed his index finger and thumb on his cheek, brushing away the hair that has dried along with the blood coating her skin. His eyes wandered about her entire form discerning the damage done to it and wincing in agony. He scooped her up with one arm supporting the small of her back and gripping her upper thighs rigidly and dashed into the limbo.

Naruto and Aniki were walking through the woods that bordered the camp, it had almost been over ten minutes since they last spoke in the room where Sasuke was held captive. Naruto simply followed Aniki's lead who seemed to be very reserved almost as if in thought.

"Where are we going exactly?" Naruto broke the silence.

Aniki kept walking and lowered his gaze onto the dewy grass they stepped on before halting.

"We are here."

Naruto stopped right beside him, eyes outstretched to consume the horizon. It was the same pond he was trailing back before he was caught. The same pond where two of the Sanctum's men grabbed him from the nape and yanked him into the rubble, only for him to realize both were trackers and would have easily made out his presence.

Naruto's head lowered and eyes shifted from left to right from narrow slits. He was expecting an swarm of soldiers to trod into the scene and grab him, probably toss him around and capture him but the progression of a few soundless minutes irked his presumptuous thought.

"What are we doing here, Aniki?"

Just when the last vowel slipped out from Naruto's tongue Aniki's palm rose with great vigour, his fingers bending downward and the water from the pond rose along with. He swirled the gushing stream and wound it around before tossing it in the direction of Naruto who was alarmed. Naruto bypassed the stream by dashing left and skipped on his steps a few times.

He gathered chakra, reaping it from within and bringing it to the surface. Orange dusted his eyelids as he progressed into Sage Mode. He gathered the chakra in his palm and a whirling white shuriken-like Rasengan emerged. He tossed the Rasenshuriken toward Aniki who was already sprawled, gripping the waterbed with his feet.

Aniki's arm sprang forward and tiny but sharp senbons of water ricochet from the pond's surface into the direction of the Rasenshuriken. The senbons integrated with the jutsu and sprang about wildly in every direction, hitting Naruto and aiming even for Aniki who simply yielded his arm upward bringing forth a wall of water to dodge.

Naruto lay on the dewy grass, assaulted by the sharp needles of water that had lashed onto his skin causing sharp gashes across his chest and face, blood dripping steadily out of them. He regained posture and pushed his elbows onto the dirt lifting himself up. Aniki was already walking towards him and a sharp stream water jut out from behind him grasping Naruto crystallizing itself in place. Naruto lay stock-stilled as the ice crystals grew in size and covered everything but his head.

Aniki kept walking towards him and smirked sinfully.

"You thought I was going to invite you to my camp with open arms? Throw away my life's work, just like that?"

Naruto's breathing hastened, his cerulean eyes penetrating into Aniki as if right through the flesh. On establishing Naruto's silence to his question, Aniki stomped one of his feet and a sharp crystal blade flung out from the crystallized water that surrounded them. He caught hold of it and stepped closer to Naruto, the blade remaining securely in his hand.

"I started bending water since when I was a child. There was no one other like me. When I was 12, I took out a force of 18 men all Chunin or higher ranks all by myself when they threatened to burn down my village. I am not playing games with you here Naruto. I simply want to know how we can penetrate into the border's of the Fire Country and take the villages as Hostage so they can meet our demands."

"You bastard," Naruto muttered breathlessly.

Heat emerged to the surface of his skin, the crystals that contained him were vibrating with a force that emanated from his skin. Chakra began to seep out and envelop the crystals, rocking their surface causing cracks to form. Aniki's eyes narrowed consuming the events before him.

Naruto wriggled his body to break free of his boundations but was immediately intercepted by a stronger clutch as Aniki fisted his palms tightly causing the crystals to surround him constrictingly. He wriggled some more before giving up altogether to seeth in his enclosure.

Aniki stepped back and descended the mound over which the crystals held Naruto captive and descended into the water, engulfing himself in it. His brown hair mopped into the water disappearing altogether.

The surface of the pond rumbled agitatedly and a fossa of water bend inward forming a concavity. Several water soldiers formed from the cavity marching in the direction of the woods. Naruto's eyes couldn't uphold the sight before him and he began wailing calling out for help.

Not too far away Sasuke's eyes tilted in the direction of the resonating screams that he immediately recognized as he turned around settling his arm that held Sakura tighter to his chest.

 _ **I know, short. I am sorry about the really late update. This chapter was promise two days ago but hell, there is so much college work I have rn. So yes, go ahead and review and tell me how you felt about this chapter. I am 80% done with the story if anybody wanted to know.**_

 _ **Now over to the important announcement, my new story comes out tomorrow and is loosely based on Silver Lining's Playbook and the pairing is obviously SasuSaku. I hope you enjoy it and look forward to all your support/reviews.**_


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